Reach for the light
by MissEm
Summary: NALEY! COMPLETED FINALLY! You are my light where there is darkness
1. Running into you

This is a future fic...I hope you guys will enjoy it. I look forward to your comments and reviews.

When a light is shown in the dark, what will you do? Will you reach for it?

It's funny, it seems..how sometimes we take our lives for granted...Haley steps out of the doctor's office and slowly makes her way for the bench nearby. Her head was spinning and her vision was clogged by the tears that formed in her eyes. She searches around her for some comfort but all she sees is sickness and death that surrounds her. She cries out loud and buries her face in her palm. She cries and sobs loudly as patients walks past her. Her figure trembles fragilely as she sobs.

Nathan wakes up to the sound of his alarm going off. He winces as he sits up in bed and rubs his eyes. The sun is shining through his window and casts a glow on Nathan's bare chest and face. Nathan turns around to the girl sleeping soundly next to him. He gets out of bed and goes to the bathroom.

Haley arrives at the airport and catches a cab to Tree Hill. The cab stops in front of a white house with a porch lining the house. She steps out and takes her luggage out.

"Thanks," she says to the driver as he hands her the last suitcase. She hands him his pay and starts for the house. Inside, she places the luggage in the empty living room and walks around the house. There is a large kitchen and dining room with dusty furniture. She makes her way upstairs into the bedrooms. There are four bedrooms unoccupied. She makes her way to the last bedroom at the end of the hall. She opens the door and takes a peek inside. She smiles when she sees the view of it. The room is painted baby blue with matching bed sets and a computer desk. She walks inside and sits on the bed. She sighs and smiles.

"Home sweet home," she says to herself softly.

Nathan decides to go for a morning run and it is a beautiful day for a run. He put on his headphones and starts his morning. He is in town visiting his mom, but she was on a trip in Florida. He decides to stay anyway. Basketball season was over and he didn't want to go back to LA anytime soon. He continues running until he sees Haley's house. Haley, he thought. Every time he goes for a run, he'll always stop in front of her house and all the wonderful memories came flooding back to him. He remembers their kiss in the rain after he was dumb and had broken up with her. They spent many nights in that house before him. Haley was the one person that he ever really loved. Together throughout highschool, they were on and off. They finally broken up for good when senior year came and they decided to go their separate ways. He hated it, but she left him. She was gone for good and had not heard from her since then. He laughed to himself. He could remember that day when she was leaving. She had acted so strange but he had ignored all the possible warnings. It was too late now. Too late to bring her back. He decides to move on but stops when he sees a figure in the window. He pulls out his earplugs and takes a closer look. He walks up to the porch and peers through the window. No one, he must be seeing things, he thought. He starts to walk down from the porch when the door swings open.

"Hello?" Haley asks standing in the doorway.

Nathan freezes in his tracks. He could recognize that voice anywhere. His heart raced, he could feel his body tense. He slowly turns around.

"Nathan?" Haley asks almost whispering. "Nathan?"

Nathan sees Haley. She looks thinner and more pale. But her hair was still the rich blonde color and her eyes still had those sparks in them. He can tell she's in shock as well. He moves slowly towards her until he is directly in front of her.

"Haley," he says. "It's really you."

Haley nods. She is in amazement. Nathan Scott, her former lover is standing before her. He looks the same. He is wet from sweating but other than that, his hair, his face, his body, all looks the same.

"What are you doing here?" Haley asks.

"I was out running when I saw something in your house," Nathan explains. "I thought it might be an intruder or something, so I came to check it out."

Haley laughs. "Really? You know we did sell this house when I moved to Chicago, right? So technically, you could be considered the intruder."

Nathan was speechless. He couldn't think of anything quick.

"I was just kidding. I meant what are you doing here in Tree Hill?" Haley asks changing the subject.

"Oh, that," Nathan says regaining his speech. "I'm visiting my mom. But it turns out, she's out of town for the moment."

Haley nods as to understand the situation.

"Well, what about you?"

Haley flashed him a smile. She opens her mouth to say something when her cell phone goes off. They both look inside the house.

"Why don't you come in?" Haley asks. Haley holds the door open for Nathan and disappears into the kitchen. Nathan walks in and to his surprise, sees an empty house. It was strange to see the house like this. He's never seen it this way. There used to be a blue couch in the living room with many decorative items and no there's nothing except Haley's luggage. Haley returns and sees the look on Nathan's face. She chuckles.

"Yea, I'm going to need a few things," she says motioning to the empty room.

Nathan chuckles lightly, "Don't you mean a lot of things?"

Haley smiles. He always had a sense of humor. Nathan turns to see her look. A look that he missed all these years.

"I'm sorry, but I have to meet someone," Haley says breaking the moment.

"Oh," Nathan says. "Don't let me stop you. You are going to be in town for a while right?"

Haley nods. "For a while."

Nathan smiles at her. "Alright, I guess, I'll see you around then." Nathan waves at her and leaves continuing his jog. Haley watches as he disappears around the corner.

"Haley, nice to meet you," the male doctor says extending his hand. Haley smiles politely and shakes his hand.

"I'm Dr. Kendrick. I've gotten your medical records from your doctor in Chicago, um...Dr. Brown?" he says looking at her records.

"Yea," Haley answers.

"Well, I see that you've refused to have the surgery. I can tell you that by having the surgery, it'll increase your chances of surviving, Miss James," Dr. Kendrick says.

"Dr. Kendrick, I know what is happening to me. I also know that there is a 50/50 chance that the surgery cannot undo the tumor in my brain," Haley says calmly as she can. Dr. Kendrick sighs. "Well, then, I assume you know that you can lose your memory because of it. The tumor is pressing on your cerebrum which can disrupt your daily functions and cause you to lose your memory."

Haley nods. "I know. But I don't want to go through surgery. I understand that I don't have much time. I just want to have the time that I have now to spend it however I want instead of suffering."

"I understand. I guess all I can do is just prescribe you some medicine for the side effects of it," Dr. Kendrick says sounding defeated. He writes something down on the chart and looks up at Haley.

"Miss James–"

"Call me Haley."

"Haley, I can't quite possibly understand what you're going through, but I hope your love ones know what's going on with you. This is a serious matter, and no one deserves to go at it alone," the man says.

Haley looks at him. Tears swell in her eyes. She looks away from him.

"They already know," she lies.

Nathan runs to Lucas's house. Lucas stayed in Tree Hill when he got married to Brooke. He still however, travels to and from LA when basketball season starts. He plays on the same team as Nathan. Brooke is already up and eating away in the kitchen. Her stomach is growing by the day and she loves it. Nathan looks at her.

"Brooke, where's Luke?" Nathan asks. Brooke looks at him.

"He's in the yard, why? Why are you here so early? Where's Jen?"

Nathan doesn't answer her and walks out. He sees Lucas out in the yard shooting some hoops.

"Did you know?" Nathan asks quickly. Lucas stops in his tracks and looks at him confused.

"Did I know what?" Lucas asks.

"Hales is back in town," Nathan tells him.

Lucas's eyes widen. "You're kidding!"

Nathan calms down a little knowing that Lucas didn't know anything about Haley's return.

"How do you know?" Lucas asks him setting the basketball down.

"I saw her when I was out running. She's back at her old house," Nathan informs her.

"Did you talk to her?" Lucas asks walking up to Nathan.

Nathan nods. "She says she'll be in town for a while. Something seems out of place here, Luke. Why didn't she tell you she was coming back?"

Luke shrug. "Maybe she wanted to surprise us."

Nathan shook his head. "She seems like she's hiding something. We were talking and suddenly, she says she has to go see someone." Together they walk inside the house.

"So?" Lucas asks once they're inside the house. He kisses his wife on the cheeks and washes his hands.

"So? So who else would Haley go see in Tree Hill?" Nathan questions.

Brooke looks up. "Wait, what? Why are you guys talking about Haley?"

"Haley's back in town," Lucas tells her.

Brooke gasp. "What? She is? Did you know?"

Lucas looks offended. "No. Why would you think I'd know?"

Brooke and Nathan looks at him.

"Guys, I didn't know, okay?" They eased the tension and started back at the argument.

"Who would she see though, tell me Luke?" Nathan asks sitting down next to Brooke.

"I don't know, Nathan. But why would you care? Aren't you in town to announce your engagement to Jen, anyway?" Lucas questions him.

Nathan remains silent and avoids eye contact with Lucas. Lucas sits down across from Nathan.

"Nathan, I thought you said you were over Haley a long time ago," Lucas tells him.

"Luke," Nathan says getting up. "We'll talk about this later. I have to go before Jen starts to get worry." He waves as he leaves. Lucas sighs.

"Sometimes I just don't get him," he says.


	2. Being in the present

As she hears a knock at her door, she walks out of the living room to answer it. Lucas stands before her smiling. She smiles back at him and gives him a big hug.

"Gosh, Luke, you look so different. It hasn't been that long now, has it?" Haley asks once they broken apart. Lucas smiles.

"Yes it has, Hales," he answers. "It's been almost three years now."

Haley chuckles. "Come in." They walk inside. Lucas looks around the house.

"I know. I'm not fully settled, but I will be," she says when she saw Lucas's reaction. "By the way, how did you–?"

"Nathan. He stopped by and–,"

"I see," Haley answers. "I know I should have told you guys, but I didn't want to be a bother. I only came back to take care of things before I–," she stops realizing she almost let her secret out. Luke looks at her curious.

"Before you what?" he asks.

"Uh, before I return back to Chicago. I'm only staying for a while," she answers quickly turning away from him.

"Hales–,"

"How's Brooke?" Haley asks changing the subject.

"She's fine," Luke answers. "But Hales–,"

"That's wonderful. I'm going to have to see her soon. But first I have to get settled in. I mean, I still have to get some furniture for this place." Lucas wrinkles his brow. He couldn't understand why his best friend is behaving so strangely. He walks towards her and hugs her tightly.

"I'm just glad you're back. Really, Hales. I missed you," he whispers. Haley brought her hand slowly around him. She could feel her eyes getting teary but cleared her throat and looks away from him.

"Me too, I missed you too," she answers. Once they let go of each other, they smile. They are both glowing and smiling as if they have a hook around their mouths.

"Why don't you come over for dinner? I mean, you really don't have anything to cook with," Lucas says looking around the house.

Haley laughs. "Thanks but–,"

"Come on, Brooke will be thrill," Luke persists.

Haley laughs at his determination. "Are you sure I won't be a bother?"

"I'm positive. Come over at seven," he says. Haley nods. Lucas hugs her one more time. "Glad to have you back. We're going to have such a great time."

Haley rings the door bell and is answer by Brooke. She looks plump but has a beautiful glow. She is wearing a stretchy white t-shirt and maternity jean. She gasps and quickly threw her arms around Haley. Haley laughs at her enthusiasm and hugs her back.

"Haley, it's so great to see you again," Brooke squeals. She let go of her and yells without turning her head, "Luke, she's here!"

"Yea, I'll be there," he yells back from the kitchen. Brooke leads her to the living room. Once they sit down, Brooke began to question her.

"Haley, what's going on with you? What have you been up too? Why didn't you tell us you were going to be in town?"

Haley chuckles nervously. "Whoa, slow down," she says. "I'm only going to be in town for a while. I'm not sure I'll be able to stay that long anyway."

Brooke's smile faded. "Oh," she says. "Then what are you in town for?"

Haley's expression changes. "Oh, well, I uh..." They are interrupted with a knock at the door. Lucas runs out from the kitchen and answers the door. Haley and Brooke steps out to the hall to discover Nathan and a tall brunette woman standing hand in hand. The brown haired girl is smiling and looking at Haley. Haley couldn't help but stare back.

"Nathan, what a surprise?" Luke asks "Hi Jen." The girl waves at them. Nathan could feel the tension in the house.

"Oh, sorry to intrude. But Jen and I were bored. We thought maybe we could–we didn't know you had guest." Nathan looks at Haley.

"No, it's fine. Luke invite them in," Brooke says. Lucas makes way for them to come inside. The pair slowly enters the house and made their way to the living room.

"We're really sorry, we didn't mean to–," Nathan starts.

"That's right. We just couldn't think of anything to do and so we decided to come and see if you guys were up for anything," Jen finishes his sentence. Nathan blushes. "We didn't know you guys had plans."

Brooke looks at Haley. "Oh, we didn't introduce you. Jen this is Haley. She's an old friend that we grew up with."

Haley waves. "Hi, nice to meet you."

Jen waves back and smiles lightly. "Same here." She turns to look at Nathan. "How come you didn't tell me anything about Haley?"

Nathan stutters.

"Well, Haley left Tree Hill right after high school. She surprised us all by making that decision. We were kinda mad at her for it," Brooke says looking at Haley and winking. "But at least she's back for good now."

Lucas smiles. "That's right. And Jen is Nathan's fiancee. They're in town for their engagement party."

Haley looks up surprise. "Oh, really?" She tries to be enthusiastic about it.

"Yea," Jen says clinging onto Nathan's arm. "We're having the engagement party here and the wedding in LA."

Haley nods smiling politely. "How long have you guys been dating?"

"A year and a half," she answers. "I know it seems like we're rushing it, but, this is the only chance we have. After this, I have to fly between Paris and New York for fashion week and I have some shows to do also."

"Yea, Jen's a model. We get discount on clothes and everything," Brooke says dreamily.

Brooke and Jen laughs. Lucas stands up. "I think dinner's ready."

Everyone sits around the table orderly and says Grace before eating. After Luke says Grace, they began to indulge in a conversation.

"So Haley, how long have you known everyone here?" Jen asks curious.

Haley looks at Brooke nervously. "Um, well, I've known Luke since I was in diapers, uh, Brooke and Nathan, I knew since high school."

Jen's eyes widens. "Wow, so you guys must have been close. Why did you leave then?"

Lucas scoffs and then smiles. "Well, if you must know, Haley is the smartest girl in town. She was offered a full scholarship to Chicago as an intern for the Chicago Times. She is also a great singer, but we won't go into that much." He winks at Haley.

Jen smiles. "So you're a writer?"

Haley nods.

Brooke gasps. Everyone turns to look at her.

Brooke lifts her head and laughs. "The baby kicked!"

Lucas made his way towards her and kneels beside her. He places his hand on her stomach. A smile occurs on his face. "That's amazing."

Everyone begins chattering and encouraging them. Jen turns to Nathan.

"Oh, now I can't wait until we have a little one," she says childishly. "Just imagine us, being parents. It'll be great."

"Yea," Nathan says trying to be enthusiastic about the subject.


	3. Help from someone

As they finish dinner, Haley suggest she leave before it gets really dark.

"Wait, did you walk here?" Luke asks. Haley nods. "Nathan, do you mind driving her home?" Haley's heart skip a beat.

"Sure. Jen, do you mind waiting around for a bit?" Nathan asks turning to her.

"No, go ahead. I have to talk to Brooke anyway. We need to do some catching up here," she says and flashes a smile to them. Haley says good bye to everyone and makes her way to Nathan's car. Inside, Haley buckles up as Nathan starts the ignition. They drive off.

It was silent in the car. Both Haley and Nathan can feel the tension but refuses to pay attention to it. They past Karen's Café and stops at a red light. Nathan turns to Haley.

"Haley–,"

Haley turns to face him. Even in the dark, he can see her face clearly. He gulps before saying another word. "I'm sorry, I didn't tell you about Jen."

Haley smiles politely. "Don't be, there's nothing wrong with it. I mean, it's your life. I don't want to disrupt your life."

Nathan is angered by this. "So you don't care?" he asks as calmly as he can.

Haley shrugs her shoulders. "Why should I care?"

Nathan searches her for some anger sign or frustration. He could see none.

"Haley, I just–,"

"Nathan, we're history. What we had was in the past. You have a great thing now, don't ruin it," Haley says coolly.

"Who says I'll ruin it? Who says I was talking about us?" Nathan says angrily. Haley looks taken back.

"I just–,"

"Well, you thought wrong. I just wanted to make sure you aren't jealous or anything because you know, Jen is a model and everything," Nathan says avoiding looking at Haley.

Haley's face turns red. "I can't believe you. You–,"

"I wasn't talking about us, Haley. I love Jen. We're getting married in least than a week. I have no regrets," Nathan says smugly.

"Just take me home," Haley says firmly. She notices that the light has turn green for the second time. He reaches Haley's house and parks in front of it.

Haley quickly gets out and says nothing to Nathan and goes inside her house. She slams the door close and threw her purse. She hates this. She hates him for acting this way. But most of all she hates herself for lying.

Nathan watches her as she closes the door behind her. He couldn't believe what he had done. He was a jerk and he knew it. He sighs and drives away.

Haley wakes up the next day still a little mad from last night. She takes her shower and decides to shake it off. She goes to Karen's for breakfast and spots her immediately. Karen screams as she sees Haley's face and runs to her. She throws her arms around Haley and laughs.

"My goodness, what have the cats dragged in?" she says looking at Haley.

"Nice to see you too, Karen," Haley says.

"Haley, what are you doing back in town?" Karen asks.

"What can I say, I missed you guys," she says. Karen laughs.

"Yea, right. I tried getting you to come visit for Thanksgiving and you never came," Karen says.

"Sorry," Haley says. "I was really busy."

Karen didn't answer.

"But really, I did miss you guys," Haley says.

"Ok," Karen replies smiling. "So what are you doing back in town for?"

Haley's expression faded. "Well, I just...I just had some unfinished business," she answers.

Karen looks at her. "Haley, you sound like you're about to die," Karen says laughing. Haley chuckles nervously.

"It's nothing like that, no."

Nathan walks into the hall they are renting for the engagement party. Jen is talking to the wedding planner and telling her what she expects. Jen turns around and smiles at the site of Nathan. She runs to him and clings her arm around his. The wedding planner walks up to them.

"Marissa was just telling me that the flowers will arrive on Friday and will be stored until Saturday morning," Jen tells him.

"That's great," Nathan says.

"I know. I can't believe it's actually happening," Jen says excitedly. Marissa smiles. "This will be a wonderful party," she says.

Nathan turns to Jen. "Sweetie, I think we should invite Haley to the party too," he says.

Jen looks at him. "Well, why didn't we invite her in the beginning? I mean, don't you think it'll look bad?"

The wedding planner excused herself and left. Jen turns to face him.

"Well, don't you think it'll look bad now by not inviting her at all? She is an old friend and it would look bad if we didn't invite her at all," Nathan explains.

Jen considers this. "You are right. I'll go tomorrow and invite her. But Nate, why didn't you tell me about her?"

"I forgot. I mean, I didn't really hang out with her in high school. She was just a friend of Lucas," he lied. Jen smiles.

"That's fine. I'll go tomorrow and invite her."

Jen presses the door bell and Haley answers the door. Haley smiles in surprise.

"Jen, what are you doing here?" Haley asks confused.

"I need to talk to you," Jen says.

"Sure, come in," Haley says.

Jen walks in and sits down on the new couch that Haley had bought.

"You have a beautiful place here," Jen says admiring the house.

Haley smiles. "I know. It was my old house. I heard it was on the market and bought it."

"Oh really? You also live close to Brooke and Lucas," Jen says.

Haley nods.

"Oh, uh, I wanted to invite you to the engagement party," Jen says giving her an invitation. Haley takes it and looks at it.

"I know it's late notice and everything, but we didn't know you were going to be in town. I mean, uh,...," Jen chuckles nervously.

"I understand," Haley says. "But I don't think I can make it."

Jen looks at her. "Don't be upset.."

Haley laughs. "Don't be silly. I'm not. Honestly. I just have an appointment on Saturday."

Jen laughs relieved. "Oh, sorry. But please do come. Even though you weren't very close to Nathan, I would love to see you there."

Haley looks at her.

"Oh, he told you that?" she asks.

"Yea, but it really doesn't matter. It'll be great just to have you there."

Haley puts on a smile. "Don't worry, I'll try."

"Haley, I'm afraid I have some bad news," Dr. Kendrick says sitting down at his desk.

"What is it?" Haley asks curious.

"The tumor has grown," he says calmly.

"Oh..." she says sadly.

"Look, Haley, really, I urge you to have the surgery," Dr. Kendrick says. Haley doesn't answer.

"Haley, I'm your doctor and I think this is the best choice for you. You are still young and beautiful and smart, why don't you want to save yourself?"

"Because I can't!" Haley exclaims in tears. "Because I can't!" She covers her face with her hands and cries. Dr. Kendrick walks over to her and put his arms around her.

"I can't," she sobs into his chest.

He pulls her apart. "Haley, you can."

Haley looks up at him tear eyed. She sees him, young, handsome, and caring for the first time.

"Haley, you are a strong person and you can beat this and come out alive," he says smiling. "I'm willing to help you. I'll do anything as long as you try the surgery."

Haley looks at him confuse. "Why? Why do you want me to do this so much?"

He looks into her eyes. "It's my job."

Haley feels a spark between them. She turns away. "Alright, then. I'll do it. But on one condition."

"Anything," he says.


	4. Talking about the past

"Haley what are you doing tonight?" Brooke asks over the phone.

"Nothing, why?" Haley asks.

"Get dress, we're going out," she says and hangs up. Haley sighs. She waits patiently until she hears a car honk and walks out dressed in a lacy white top and brown jacket and casual jeans. She looks into the car and finds Lucas, Nathan, Jen and Brooke inside. She nervously smiles and gets in. They stopped when they reached their favorite place, "Tric" and goes in. The club is already crowded with people and the music is on loud.

"I missed this place," Haley yells through the noises. Lucas nods and smiles. "I knew you would. That's why we came here."

Haley smiles back. She turns around and caught Nathan looking at her. Uncomfortable, she walks away to the bar.

"One Manhattan, please," she says to the bartender.

"Do you think you should really be drinking?" a guy says from behind her. She turns around to find Dr. Kendrick standing there.

"Doctor," Haley says surprise.

"Please, call me Andy," he says and sits next to her. Haley is staring at him.

"What?" he asks observing himself to see if he has any stains or something weird on him.

"I just, well, I would never imagine seeing you in a place like this," she says.

"What? Just because I'm a doctor, you think I should be at lectures and spending the night in my office?" he asks smiling.

Haley nods. "Well, yea."

He laughs. "Well, you are right. This is my first time here. But I do go out though."

"Ah." Haley takes a sip of her drink.

"But I don't really think you should be drinking," he says sincerely.

"Andy, do me a favor. Don't be my doctor tonight," she says.

Andy looks at her.

"Alright then, do you want to dance?" he asks.

Haley looks at him and nods.

Brooke is about to take a sip of her water when she stops and gasps. "Sweetie? Is that Haley out there on the dance floor?"

Lucas along with Jen and Nathan turns around to find Haley and Andy dancing together. Nathan clenched his teeth.

"He's pretty cute," Jen says.

"Wow, Haley has got some moves," Brooke says.

Lucas turns back. "I don't want to see her like that. I mean, she's practically a sister."

Brooke laughs. "Well, then, you definitely shouldn't turn around. She's got her tongue down his throat." Nathan couldn't help wanting to beat this guy up. Jen turns to Nathan.

"Nate, are you okay?" she asks breaking his thoughts.

He turns to her. "Oh, um...yea."

Jen turns back to watch Haley.

Haley has no idea what she is doing. She was caught up in the moment and had kissed her doctor. She never realized he was so good looking before. He looks at her.

"Are you okay?" he asks.

She nods and smiles. "Yea. But I think I need a drink."

He stops and walks her over to the side of the bar.

"You're a great dancer," he compliments her.

"Thanks," she answers. Her head is now spinning.

"Do you want to get out of here?" he asks her. Haley looks at him.

"To where?" she asks.

He shrugs his shoulders. "Anywhere."

She smiles. Before she answers, her friends made their way towards them.

"Ahem," Lucas says pretending to clear his throat.

Haley laughs. "Geez, Luke."

Brooke extends her hand towards Andy. "Hi, I'm Brooke Scott. I'm Haley's friend." Andy smiles and shakes it.

"And you are...?" Brooke says examining him.

"Brooke, guys, this is Andy Kendrick. He's a friend of mine. Actually, he's my date to Nathan's engagement." Everyone looks at him.

"Oh, I see. How long have you guys met?" Luke questions him. He notices Nathan's fist tighten.

"Actually, I'm here because of Andy. I wanted to surprise you all," Haley says smiling.

"It sure is a surprise," Brooke says. "Andy, right? What do you do?"

"I'm a doctor," he answers. Everyone is impress by his answer.

"Um, if you guys are done questioning the poor guy, we have plans," Haley says laughing.

"Oh, go right ahead," Luke says. "Don't stay out to late."

Haley stuck out her tongue before she turns and leaves.

Once, outside, Haley sighs.

"Thanks so much for that," she says to Andy who is walking beside her.

"No problem," Andy says. "They seem like great people. Why don't you just tell them?"

Haley shakes her head. "I can't. I know it's cliche, but I don't want them to worry about me. I left them for good and now I come back with this horrible fate. I'm being too selfish."

"So? They love you and they deserve to know the truth," Andy says.

Haley turns to Andy. "I thought you weren't going to be my doctor tonight."

Andy flashes her a smile. "Alright then, where do you want to go?" Haley smiles.

On the ride home, Brooke has been talking about Haley's new guy, Andy.

"So that's why Haley is in town. He seems nice. I wonder if they're serious for her to come here."

"Brooke, don't go meddling in anyone's life. Haley should have the right to privacy," Luke says.

Brooke sighs. "I just want the best for my friend," she explains to him.

"Well, they seem happy. I remember what it was like to fall madly in love," Jen says smiling. She turns to Nathan. "Right, Nate?"

Nathan didn't hear what she was saying.

"Nate?"

He turns to her. "What?"

"What's wrong. You seem troubled tonight," she says.

"Nothing. I'm ... I'm just thinking about the weekend," he says. He puts his arms around her. She smiles.

"Everything'll be fine. I should be the one worrying."

"So tell me. What happened between you and Nathan?" Andy asks. They are standing at the docks looking at the water.

Haley takes a deep breath and smiles. "It's a long story."

He shrugs his shoulder. "I've got a lot of time," he answers.

Haley looks on at the water. "Nathan and I were two completely opposite people. He was a jock, I was a tutor. But somehow, we found our way to each other. I didn't know that it was possible to fall so much in love with someone," Haley says almost whispering. "Nathan and I were inseparable. I remember when he had a tournament in Raleigh," Haley says and laughs, "He called me over thirty times to say he missed me and he loved me." Andy laughs.

"You must really love him too," Andy says.

Haley nods silently. "I do."

"Well, what happened then?"

"Well, his father died, and he began to change. He partied a lot, drank, and soon we drifted apart. I couldn't help him and made things worse, so I left," Haley explains.

Flashback:

_At the end of the ceremony, Haley approaches Nathan and pats his back._

"_It's okay, Nathan," she said quietly. Nathan looks at her._

"_It's never going to be okay anymore," he said and left her standing alone. She looks at him while he storms off. Her heart was broken for she couldn't do anything to help Nathan. She was useless and couldn't even comfort her own boyfriend. Later that day, she met Lucas at the river court. They were sitting down on the bench enjoying the peace and quiet. Haley had a lot in her mind and didn't know where to begin. Lucas could tell that his friend is distressed and placed his arms around her. Haley turns to look at him and smiles weakly as she leans her head against his shoulder._

"_It's okay, Hales. I'm here," Lucas comforts her. Slowly tears developed in her eyes and fell from her face._

"_I don't know what to do, Luke," she says tearfully. "Nathan's in pain, and I don't know how to help him. It seems that I'm making things worse."_

_Lucas tightened his grip on her. "He'll come through. He always does."_

_Haley smiles. Lucas is right. No matter what, they always make it through the rough patches. She wipes away her tears. She pulled away from him._

"_Do you think that I'm a terrible person for not being able to help Nathan?" Haley asks._

_Luke shook his head. "Everyone has their own way of dealing with death, Hales, you should know that."_

_Haley stands up. "You're right. I should go and see how Nathan is doing." She turns around to leave but suddenly fell to the ground. Her legs were failing her, making her unable to stand up. She grabs the table for support. Luke quickly grabbed her and helped her up holding her hand._

"_Are you okay Hales? You don't look too good," Lucas asks worried._

_Haley sat down and nodded. "Yea, I'm fine. I probably turned around too fast."_

"_I think you should go home and rest," Lucas suggests. "Let me take you home. You've been through a lot lately. It's probably stress."_

_Haley nods. "Yea, probably."_

_Nathan sat on his bed, numb, and unable to think. His mind was somewhere else. It seems, no matter how bad of a father Dan was, he was still always there for him. He couldn't believe in just an instance, he was gone for good. But why wasn't he able to shed one tear for him? Is he such a horrible son that he can't cry for his own father? He stared at a photo of his father and himself on his night stand. He was gone. Nathan shook his head trying to clear his mind and decides to go out and forget the whole day._

_Haley had rung the door bell for the fifth time now. She waited anxiously for Nathan to answer. She was nervous, and partially shaking. The door finally opens. Nathan stood there shirtless and surprised at her visit._

"_Haley? What are you doing here at this time?" he asked._

"_I know it's late, but I really need to talk to you," she explains. _

"_Oh, well, let me grab a shirt and we can go out and talk," he said and turns to go to his room. Haley smiled but her smile soon faded when she heard a girl's voice in the background._

"_Nathan, who is it?" the voice asked._

_Haley looked at Nathan. She cracked the door open and little wider and saw a girl in Nathan's shirt. Nathan turned to look at Haley. _

"_Haley, it's not.."_

"_Nathan, how could you?" she asks, her voice almost lost in her throat. She ran off. _

"_Haley!" Nathan yelled as he ran after her. She ran as fast as she could, trying to erase that image forever. _

"_Hales!" he yelled as he ran. _

"_Go away!" she yelled back at him. She didn't see where she was going and tripped over a rock. Nathan quickly went over to her. He reached for her hands, but she pulled away from him, still laying on the ground. Thunder rumbled and soon, it started to pour. _

"_Let me help you. You probably sprained your ankle," he told her._

"_I don't need your help!" she yelled. She slowly got to her feet and was looking at him. "In fact, Nathan, I don't ever want to see you." She glared at him soaking wet._

_Nathan looked at her, surprised she said that. She was now crying but she didn't care. She didn't care anymore. _

"_How could you? Did you sleep with her? I thought you loved me," she said struggling to keep from breaking down._

"_I do love you," he told her._

"_No, no you don't Nathan. If you did, you wouldn't have done this. I know you are in pain because your father died. But I'm just in as much pain as you are. I hate that I couldn't help you. That I couldn't ease your pain. But you go and do this behind my back?" Nathan was crying now too._

"_We are we always doing this? Why are we always going back and forth? School's almost over, and we haven't even figured out our future. Don't you see me in your future?" Nathan didn't answer. He looked down at the ground._

"_Well, that's your answer," she said disappointed and heart broken. Slowly she walks away from him. He grabbed her arms._

"_Nathan," she said this time, almost whispering. "Maybe sometimes love just isn't enough. I never understood what that meant until today. Maybe, now, just isn't our time."_

"_Haley, wait, I never meant to hurt you, Haley. I would never want to," he said._

"_I know." She turned around to look at him. Everything that they had was now gone. In one instance, their great love story was over._

"_I think we should end it now," she said, her voice cracking up. Nathan looked at her. He let go of her arm slowly. She turned away from him. He turned away and walked away. Haley was left drenched in the rain. But she couldn't move anymore. She felt too tired. _

"_Ahh!" she screamed and fell to the ground. She clutched her stomach and screamed as the pain in her abdomen continued. _

_Lucas stood by Haley all night long. He was too worried to do anything else. He couldn't believe what the doctor had told him._

"_I'm sorry. We couldn't save the child."_

_Lucas looked up at the doctor. "What?"_

"_Haley had a miscarriage."_

_As tears developed in his eyes, he felt Haley move. Haley opened her eyes and saw Luke. She could tell it wasn't good. His eyes were watery. She shook her head slowly._

"_No. No. No!" she cried. "No, it can't be." Lucas went over to her and held her as she cried in his arms. She sobbed loudly and clung to him._

"_It's okay, Hales," he whispered, crying._

"_My baby," she uttered into his chest._

_Haley finally got a grip of herself and settled down. Lucas sat at the edge of her bed._

"_Why didn't you tell me?" he asked looking at her. She looked away, afraid, she might start crying again._

"_I don't know," she answered._

"_Does Nathan know?" he asked._

_Haley looked at Lucas. She shook her head as tears fell down her face. She started to cry again. She wiped away her tears but more kept coming._

"_What happened?" Lucas asked helping her wipe her tears._

"_It's over," she said tearfully. "It's over, Luke."_

End of flashback...

"Soon after, I packed my bags and left," Haley concludes sounding sad. "I mean, I don't regret any of it, but I did really miss him."

Andy took held her hands. "I won't let you go," he says and smiles. "I'll do whatever I can to help you beat this."

Haley climbs out of the car and waves goodbye to Andy. She waves as the car drives off into the darkness and turns around to see Nathan sitting on her front steps.


	5. I still Love you

Nathan gets up and looks at her. "I was waiting for you. Making sure you came home safely," he answers and moves closer to her.

Haley looks taken back. "Well, you shouldn't have. Where's Jen?"

"Haley, did you really come back to see 'Andy' or is there something else going on?" Nathan asks.

Haley turns away from him.

"Because, I know you wouldn't really do that," Nathan tells her.

"Nathan, people change, you of all people should know that," Haley replies. Nathan grabs her arms.

"Don't you miss me?" he asks. "I waited so long to hear from you. Three years, Hales, and nothing. No letter, e-mail, or a single phone call." Nathan looks hurt.

"I'm sorry, Nathan," Haley answers pulling away from him. "But I don't think we really should be talking about this so late." She walks away from him only to be pulled back.

"Nathan, what do you want, huh?" Haley yells in frustration.

"I want you!" he yells back. "I missed you. God's sake, Haley, I think about you everyday for three years. I know I did some bad things in the past and there's nothing I can make up for it, but I still love you."

"What about Jen?"

"What about her?" Haley asks.

"My publicist set us up. Thought it might look good for my image. So I went along with it."

Haley looks up at him in confusion. "Does she know about this?"

Nathan shakes his head.

Haley scoffs.

"Haley, do you know how many sleepless nights I went through? Do you know how miserable I was? No matter who I go out with, I always end up thinking about you."

Haley couldn't look up at him. It was too painful.

"I just wanted to fly to Chicago and knock down doors just to find you," Nathan tells her. "I still love you, Hales."

Haley heard this and looks up at him. She saw how sad he'd look. She was to be blame for this. Nathan looks into her eyes.

"Hales, come back to me," he says. Tears develops in her eyes. He leans in to kiss her, he could feel her breathing and leans in closer...she closes her eyes and sees him crying in the future mourning her death...she quickly turns around from him.

"What is it?" Nathan asks her, moving closer to her. He wraps his arms around her waist.

She pulls out of it. "Nathan, we can't. I mean, you have Jen. And...and I have Andy."

Nathan laughs. "Are you kidding? He dropped you off without a kiss! Who are you trying to fool?"

Haley's face turns red. "I'm sorry if we aren't the kind to show our love that way. But we prefer to keep our relationship private unlike other people," Haley replies sarcastically.

"Jen and I do not–,"

"Save it Nathan, I've had enough," Haley said.

"Haley, don't you think that I've had enough?" Nathan tells her. "I don't want to live this lie anymore. Let's go tell Jen." He takes Haley by the arm and leads her to his car. She struggles and finally escapes his grasp.

"Let me go!" she screamed. Nathan let go of her hand. Haley looks at him and rolls her eyes. "What did you expect, that we go tell Jen and everything will be fine?"

Nathan didn't answer. "Nathan, you're engagement is this weekend. You can't leave Jen like that."

"I will only marry the person I love," Nathan answers.

"I don't know what you mean," Haley says.

"Do you love me?" Nathan asks looking into her eyes. Haley catches his look and tries desperately to avoid it.

"No," she answers. He grabs her arm.

"Don't lie," he says. Haley notices that his eyes are teary. "Don't you think I've suffered enough? Don't you think I want things to go back to the way they were?" Haley looks away as tears fall into her face. He let her go and walks away to his car.

Haley watches as he drives away. She walks inside to her room and cries.

On the night before the engagement, everyone gathered at Lucas's house to celebrate the event. Haley had arrived with Andy and Nathan and Jen arrived later. Nathan sees Andy and Haley together and makes him want to pull Haley away from him. After all, Nathan believed that he could only be the only man for her. He watches Haley laughing with Brooke and talking and it makes him want her so much. He drank more wine and ended up being hauled up to the bedroom upstairs by Lucas. His mind was spinning so fast, he could hardly see anything.

Haley is listening in on the conversation between Brooke and Andy when she suddenly feels a like throwing up. She quickly gets up and goes upstairs to use the bathroom. Nathan in the other room can hear her and slowly makes his way to her in.

"Are you okay?" he asks drunkenly.

Haley quickly wipes her mouth and rinses it with water. When she was done, she looks at him and smiles. "I'm fine." She is about to walk out when Nathan blocks the doorway.

"Nathan, let me out," Haley says.

"Don't tell me you're pregnant," Nathan taking a guess at her throwing up.

"What?" Haley gasp. "No, no I'm not."

Nathan nods.

"What would it matter anyway? It's between Andy and I." Nathan tenses up hearing Haley talk about Andy.

"Do you love him?" Nathan asks. He searches her for the truth.

"Like I said, it's between him and I." Haley starts to reach for the door when Nathan grabs her and kisses her. He closes his eyes and holds her tightly. Her nerves failed as she couldn't move an inch. He presses his lips on hers and gently sucks on them, they were sweeter than ever before. Haley starts to close her eyes and remembers the reason why she came and broke away.

Nathan wouldn't take the rejection and moves closer to her and kisses her once more. She fights him as he puts his arms around her.

"Let go of me," Haley says fighting him.

"No. I'll never let you go," he tells her as he pins her against the wall in the bathroom.

"I'll scream," Haley threatens.

"Go ahead," Nathan tells her. "Scream, we can get this over with."

Haley opens her mouth then stops to consider the consequence of it.

Nathan smiles. He kisses her once more. She tries desperately to fight him off but he was much stronger.

"Hales!" they hear Lucas's voice ring through the hall. They quickly break off and Haley runs out of the bathroom leaving Nathan behind. She sees Lucas at the end of the hall and straightens herself up. Lucas walks up to her.

"There you are. We were starting to worry," Lucas says smiling. "Is there something wrong?"

Haley shakes her head. "No, everything's fine."

Lucas smiles. "Good, maybe I should check on Nathan." He starts to walk towards the bedroom door when Haley stops her.

"Wait, Luke," Haley says loudly, "Do you think maybe I can see the nursery for the baby?"

Lucas laughs. "Sure, c'mon." He signals for her to join him as they walk across the hall into a tiny blue room with wooden furniture. Haley sighs as she sees Nathan go back into the bedroom.

As the night came to an end, Haley and Andy says goodbye to everyone and leaves.

"I don't want to go home yet," Haley tells Andy once they're inside the car.

"Okay, where do you want to go?" he asks.

"Let's go to the docks," she answers.

They reach the docks and walks over to the side of it.

"It's beautiful tonight," Andy says looking up into the dark sky filled with stars. Haley looks up.

"Do you believe in heaven?" she asks him looking up.

He return his gaze to her. "Yea, I do."

"You know, my mom's up there," Haley tells him. "My mom died of a brain tumor too."

Andy looks at her. "I'm sorry."

Haley laughs. "For what?"

Andy couldn't think of an answer.

"She spent years in a coma before we decided to let her go. She never showed how much pain she was in. She was always smiling when I go to visit her. But now I understand it's easier to lie to yourself to protect your love ones."

Andy walks closer to her. "Haley.."

"It's happening already. I feel it. I want to thank you, Andy," Haley says trying not to cry. "I don't know many doctors who would do what you're doing just to save a patient."

"Haley.."

"It won't be much longer. You just have to pretend to be with me until Nathan and Jen leaves for LA. Then, I'll go through with the surgery," Haley says.

"Haley, I don't care. Honestly, I didn't do this because I'm your doctor. I did it because I like you," Andy confesses. Haley looks at him in shock.

"Haley, when you first stepped into my office, I liked you. I couldn't understand why such a person as wonderful and beautiful as you would give up your life so easily. I wanted to help you because, well, I like you." He chuckles nervously as he runs his hand through his hair.

"Andy–,"

"Don't worry. I know you love Nathan, but I just wanted to at least spend some time with you. It isn't being selfish, is it?" he asks looking into her eyes.

She smiles and shakes her head. "But you do know that you're in for some disappointment, right?"

"Haley, don't say that."

"I can't help feeling it," Haley says crying. "I'm scare. I'm so scare that I don't know what else to do." Andy pulls her into a hug.

"I don't want to die," she says into his chest. "I don't want to die."

Andy patted her back softly. "You won't," he whispers, "not if I have anything to say about it."


	6. You need me more

The engagement party came and Nathan gets nervous as he greets the guests. His mom returned home for the party and helps him with the event. Nathan stands by the doorway dressed in a tux and a pink flower is pinned on him. He greets Karen when he notices Haley dressed in a light blue dress with her hair down. He watches her as she makes her way to him.

She smiles as she sees him.

"Wow, you look great," she tells him.

"Haley, don't–,"

"I just want to congratulate you and Jen. Don't worry, I won't be sticking around that long," she says and calmly walks inside. Nathan watches her. His heartache so much. He couldn't bare to go through with this day. Lucas walks up to him.

"Well, little brother, this is it. You ready?" he asks Nathan.

Nathan shakes his head sadly. Lucas looks at him. Nathan looks as if he's about to cry.

"Nathan, I understand that you still love Haley, but apparently, she's moved on," Luke says turning around to see Andy and Haley together. Nathan watches them.

"Maybe it's best to let the past go," he tells Nathan and leaves him.

They have half an hour before the ceremony starts. Nathan searches desperately for Haley. He had to tell her what's on his mind. He had to tell her he loves her no matter what. He searches the crowd for her face and finally spots her coming out of the bathroom.

"Haley," he says once he reaches her.

Haley looks at him worried. "What's wrong?"

"We need to talk," he says taking her by the handing and leading her inside an empty room. He closes the door and locks it.

"Nathan, are you crazy? You'll be in big trouble for this," Haley tells him.

"I don't care. I don't care anymore, Haley, okay? I don't want to get engage. I only love one woman and that's you," he says.

Haley looks at him. It's getting more dangerous. She laughs nervously. "Don't do this Nathan."

"Do what? Be with the one I love? I can't lie anymore. I can't lie to Jen anymore. I only want to be with you."

"Stop it Nathan! Don't do this," Haley says on the brink of crying. Nathan moves closer to Haley. He slowly place his hands on her arms.

"I love you," he says softly. Haley shakes her head crying. "Don't"

"I only want to be with you, Hales," he says.

Haley looks up at him. "We can't, Nate. We can't."

Nathan laughs lightly. "That's the first time you called me Nate since we were here."

"I was afraid that Jen might think–,"

"Who cares what Jen thinks? I only think about you." Haley breaks away from Nathan.

"We can't," she says and moves towards the door. Nathan reaches for her and spins her around. He caught her waist and wraps his arms around her. He presses his lips on hers and begins to kiss her. She struggles as his tongue roams around her mouth. She tries to put a reasonable amount of space between them but fails as he only pulls her in tighter and closer. She could feel his body heat. His grip on her tightens the more she fights him. She finally gives up and they both fell to the floor. He lands on top of her and stares into her eyes. She watches him as he begins to unbutton his shirt.

"It's wrong, Nate," she whispers.

"Hales, I love you," he tells her. She didn't seem happy about it. "Then, please, I promise, it'll be the last time. I'll marry Jen and I'll get away from you as far possible." Tears swells up in her eyes. Nathan leans in and kisses her neck. He removes the dress from her and kisses her stomach. It all seems so familiar to him. He knew her weak spots and knew her body like a map. For the last time, they were together.

"Has anyone seen Nathan?" Jen asks.

"I think he could be in the bathroom. Let me go check," Lucas volunteers.

Haley and Nathan quickly gets dress. Haley straightens out her dress and notices Nathan is struggling with his bow. She walks over to him and helps him with it.

Nathan watches her.

"You know, I've waited a lifetime for this," he says. "I just didn't think I'd be marrying someone other than you."

Haley could feel the tears develop in her eyes. She tries to smile as she is fixing the bow.

"Go and live your life, Nathan. Jen's a wonderful person. She'll be a great wife," Haley tells him as a sharp pang plunges her heart.

He shakes his head. "She can't compare to you. I'll always love you." Haley looks up at him. She sees the tears in his eyes. She wants to say something but was afraid of the lump that formed in her throat. They look at each other one last time. No one spoke, they just let the moment last for one last time.

"Nate!" they hear Lucas yelling.

"I guess this is it," Nathan says softly trying to stop himself from crying.

"Yea," Haley whispers softly that Nathan could barely hear it.

Nathan leans in and gives her one more kiss. It was soft and gently, almost never-ending. He left his lips on hers and looks at her.

"I love you Hales," he says and leaves. As the door closes, Haley laughs to herself. How could she? She just let the man she loves marry another woman. She starts to sob uncontrollably. She could feel her knees weakening and walks over to the wall for support and suddenly collapse.

"_Someone, help me. I need am ambulance! My friend has collapsed!"_

"_What happened to her?"_

"_Haley? Oh my God, It's Haley!"_

"_**I only love you Hales..."**_

"_**Mom? Is that you?"**_

"_**Sweetie, I'm here."**_

"_**Mom, I'm so scare. I don't know what to do anymore."**_

"_**Hang on, when you see the light, reach for it..."**_

"_**Mom? Mom! Wait!"**_

"_**When you see the light, reach for it..."**_

"_**...Nathan?..."**_

Haley wakes up gasping. She looks around and sees Andy sleeping by her side. Her head aches and it starts to intensify. She screams in agony and wakes up Andy.

"Haley? What's wrong?" he asks panicking. Haley starts to cry.

"It hurts, Andy," she cries. She feels sick as Andy reaches for the pan and places it on her lap. She starts to throw up violently.

"_Ahh!" Nathan stands up to see what all the commotion was. He hears people shrieking and screaming. He tries to see over all the heads of the people. He hears..._

"_Someone, help me. I need am ambulance! My friend has collapsed!"_

"_What happened to her?"_

"_Haley? Oh my God, It's Haley!"_

_Nathan immediately pushed his way past the people and sees Andy carrying Haley in his arms. He watches as they walk out of the building and drives off into the road. He turns to see Jen's face._

"_Nathan?" she asks._

_Nathan walks over to her._

"_I'm sorry Jen. I can't marry you," he says._

_Jen looks up at him._

"_But Nathan..." she asks trying hard not to cry._

"_I love Haley. I know I lied to you about her. But I love her and I can't just leave her."_

_Jen tries to smile. "Then go. Go to her. I don't want to marry a man who's heart belongs to someone else," she said as tears ran down her cheeks. _

_Nathan hugged her. "Thank you." He looked at her and ran after Andy. Once in the car, his heart raced. "Please God, let nothing bad happen to Haley," he prayed. He reached the hospital and ran inside. He saw the nurse at the counter and stopped to ask her._

"_Excuse me, can you tell me where they brought a Haley James?" he asked_

"_In room 3B," she told him. Nathan ran down the hall and stopped at her door. He walked in and found Andy injecting something into her arm. He walked over to her. Her face was now pale. She was deep asleep._

"_Nathan, I need to talk to you," Andy said as he disposed of the needle.._

_Nathan looked at Haley. She'd somehow look different, smaller, paler. Tears formed in his eyes. He hated himself. He should have known something was wrong. He should have known from the beginning. Andy made his way to Nathan. _

"_C'mon, let's go talk in my office."_

"_Brooke, sweetie, please stop crying," Luke said to his wife. Brooke was siting out in the waiting room crying for her friend._

"_Brooke, this isn't healthy for the baby," Luke told her. "Haley will be okay."_

_Brooke looked up at him. "I'm scare," she said through her tears._

"_I know," he said and placed her head on his shoulder. He patted her back._

"_Haley's a strong person. She can beat anything that comes her way," Luke said comforting his wife. But deep down, he, himself, was scared. He was afraid for his best friend's life. But he was afraid to reveal it to his wife._

_Nathan walked out of the hospital with the conversation he had with Andy going through his mind..._

"_She has a brain tumor," Andy said. Nathan was numb. "She didn't want to tell anyone about it. I'm actually her doctor."_

_Nathan looked up at him._

"_Haley didn't want to do the surgery, so I told her I would do anything to change her mind. Apparently, she only wanted you to go on with your life, so she made me pretend to be her boyfriend. The plan was that when you return to LA she'll do the surgery. But from the way things look now, I don't think she'll make it. Nathan, I need you to persuade her to go through with the surgery. It's a 50/50 chance now. But it's better than relying on medication and chemo."_

_Nathan looked at Andy afraid to ask. "Can she die?" he ask._

_Andy nodded. "I'm afraid so."_

_Nathan looked out at the world. It was unfair. Why was God punishing Haley? Why does he want to take her away from him? Nathan didn't even realize tears were running down his cheeks. He quickly got in his car and sped away._

Haley finally stops throwing up and is stable enough to sit up and watch the nurses examine her. As they leave, she sighs and tries to close her eyes to get some sleep. When she heard the door open, she knew it had to be Andy.

"Andy, no deal!" she yells jokingly trying to ease the tension of the situation. When she didn't hear a remark she opens her eyes to see Nathan standing there with a box in his arms. Her heart stopped.

"What are you doing here?" Haley asks softly.

"I came to see you," Nathan answers cheerfully. He set the box down on the chairs and walks over to her.

"What are you doing here?" she asks almost whispering. "You shouldn't be here."

"Why? Because I'm with Jen? Well, I guess it's a good thing I'm not with her then," he tells her smiling.

Haley looks up at him. "What? What are you talking about?"

Nathan sits down next to her. "I told her I loved you. I told her I couldn't marry her."

"Why?" Haley asks in tears. "Why would you go and mess that up?"

"Because right now, someone needs me more," he answers and takes her hand into his.

She tries to pull back, but he wouldn't let go.

"Why didn't you tell me Hales?" he asked trying to stay calm. Haley tries to retrieve her hand back.

"Why? It didn't have anything to do with you," she answered.

Nathan looked at her. "Is that what you tell yourself?"

Haley turns to look at him.

"Haley, no matter what, you're a part of me. Everything that concerns you, is my business," Nathan continues.

"Nathan–,"

"Hales, you know you scared me, right?" he says as tears ran down his cheeks. "I thought you were going to die and leave me. Please don't leave me again." He continues to hold her hands as she cries silently.

"Don't ever do that to me again, please," he tells her. "I don't want to lose you again." He looks at her as she wipes away her tears.

"I don't think you should be here," she whispers.

"I don't care because obviously you aren't in your right mind. I mean, the Haley in knew would never give up," Nathan says. Haley didn't answer.

"Haley, please have the surgery," Nathan pleads looking at into her eyes. She couldn't take it anymore and turns away. Nathan sits on the edge of her bed looking at her. He turns her head to face him with his hand.

"Hales, don't you love me? Do you want me to die too? Because I can't live without you," Nathan says looking into her eyes. She looks back into his eyes. She just can't bear to hurt Nathan anymore.

"And if I don't survive the surgery?" Haley asks.

Nathan remains silent.

"What if I lose my memory, Nathan? Can you love a person who doesn't even remember you? Can you live with that?"

"Yes, just as long as you are still alive. Then I can tell you stories of how we met, our first date, our first kiss, our first time together, our fights..." he stops when he realize he was making Haley cry.

"Just as long as you are still alive, I can live with anything," he tells her. He leans in and wipes her tears away. "I love you Hales."

Haley turns away. "No matter what you say, I can't Nathan. I just can't."

Nathan watches her and smiles.

He stands up and throws his arms in the air.

"Fine! Do you really want me to die? I am falling apart without you, Haley. I need you. Can't you see that?" He looks at Haley for an answer.

"Fine. I'll die. I'll kill myself, because it's no use for me to live on without you, Hales. I love you," he says and storms out of the room. Haley turns on her side and sobs loudly to herself. She didn't want Nathan to go suffer any more pain then he already then. Why couldn't he understand her? Why did it had to be so complicated? She stops herself and sees a box on the chairs. Nathan had brought it with him. She struggles as she gets out of bed and walks over to it. She opens it and looks inside.

Haley wipes away the tears that trickles down her cheeks. She looks through the box and sees the pictures of them together at games, prom, dances, and just hanging out laughing. She couldn't believe he still kept them. Suddenly she looks up. Would he really kill himself? Would he be that stupid? She looks out the hall. No one. Her heart raced. She quickly ran out of the room and sped down the hall. She ran like she never ran before. She searches every room and every closet for Nathan's face but sees nothing. She stops to take a breath and turns around and sees a door that she remember going in. She opens it and it's the stairway to the rooftop. Would he really kill himself this way? She quickly runs up the stairs and looks around for him. It was a beautiful day. The sun is shining brightly and there is no wind. She turns around and sees him dangerously close to the edge and runs to him.

"Stop! Nathan!" she yells as loudly as she can.

Nathan stops and turns a little to see her.

"Nathan, don't do this. Please. Stop!" she yells as tears rolls down her cheeks.

"Why? What will it do? It won't change your mind. Besides, as you put it, it has nothing to do with you," he tells her without looking at her.

"Nathan, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I was wrong," she says tearfully.

"Will you go through with the surgery?" he asks.

"Yes! Yes! Now, come back," she tells him. He turns around and runs to her. He wrap his arms around her and smiles.

"Really?" he asks.

She nods as tears falls down into her face. He kisses her forehead and hugs her tightly. Once they pull apart, Haley looks at Nathan.

"You scared me," she tells him. He laughs lightly.

"Did you really think I would have jumped?" he asked her and raised his eyebrow.

She scoffs realizing he had tricked her. Her expression fades and became angry, she turns to walk away. He reaches his arm and grabs her hand and spins her around. He presses his lips against hers and kissed her forcefully. His arms position themselves tightly against her waist as her arms were found on his neck. Their tongues collided against each other and caressed each other. They pulled away breathless and mesmerized by what had just happened.

He whispers in her ears, "I would have jumped you know. I would go to the ends of Earth just for you." She looks in his eyes and sees how much he loves her and she threw her hands over his shoulder and embraces him. How can she be mad at that? He smiles and holds her tightly. He could feel their body warmth but then something went limp and Haley slowly falls as Nathan catches her in his arms.

"Haley?" he yells. "Don't leave me! Haley!"

She hears it faintly and closes her eyes.

"Haley!"


	7. I have to go

Nathan watches her closely, sitting by the edge of her bed. Andy walks in and checks up on her. Nathan waits for Andy to tell him what's happeing.

Andy sighs. "Haley needs surgery right away," Andy tells him.

Nathan nods. "I know. She's agree to it."

Andy nods. "I see, but the thing is, the surgeon that's going to operate on her is out in Richmond. He won't be coming until Tuesday. That's 3 days from now. I don't think she'll make it."

Nathan reaches out to Andy. "Wait, isn't there any other surgeons? I'll do anything. You don't have to worry about financial problems," Nathan tells him desperately.

Andy sighs. "I'm sorry. But Dr. Lewis is the best surgeon there is. I can put Haley on some heavy medication to keep her immune system up, but the rest is left to faith."

On the verge of tears Nathan pleads, "I thought you were her doctor! Why can't you do anything else? I thought you wanted to save her! Do something!"

"I can't! I'm at a roadblock, Nathan! I'm trying the best I can! You think I don't want to save her? You think I'm not trying hard enough? I would do the operation myself but I don't have my license." Nathan looks at him.

"I just don't want to lose her," Nathan says softly looking at Haley sleeping.

"I know, Nathan. I know," Andy says. "We're all doing the best we can." He walks out of the room and closes the door. Nathan walks over to Haley and sits down next to her. He picks up her hands. They are cold and so he holds it with both hands.

"Hales, you have to fight, okay? You can't leave us. I need you to fight for the both of us. I'm not ready to let you go just yet. I just found you," he pleads as tears fall down into their hands.

He buries his head on her shoulder and cries. The world's turn grey and empty. Nathan sobs afraid to lose her, afraid to let her go. He's not ready yet. He doesn't want to lose her again. He doesn't want to let her go, ever..

As Haley sleeps, Nathan walks outside to see Lucas and Brooke sitting out in the waiting room. Brooke's eyes are red and she'd just calm down. Lucas looks at him with worry in his eyes, worries for his brother and his wife. They walks up to Nathan and questions him immediately.

"How is she?"

"What's wrong with her?"

"What's going on?"

"Is she going to be okay?"

Nathan put his hands up. "She's okay for now. She's asleep. Brooke, why don't you go and watch her for a while?"

Brooke looks at the brothers and reluctantly leaves them. Nathan waits until she's in the room and walks over to the bench nearby and sits down. He puts his head down and looks at the floor trying to decide what to tell his brother. Lucas walks over to him.

"What's going on, Nathan?" Lucas asks.

Nathan lifts his head.

"Haley has a brain tumor," Nathan tells him. Lucas wrinkles his brow. He shakes his head in disbelief.

"How can that be?" he asks with trying to contain his emotions inside.

"She's had it for a while now, but didn't want to tell us because she didn't want us to worry about her," Nathan explains looking up to keep his tears out of sight.

Lucas chuckles sadly. "That's Haley for you. Sweet, innocent Haley."

Nathan nods in agreement. "I don't know what to do, Luke." Lucas looks at him.

"What are they going to do?" he asks.

"They need to perform surgery to remove it. But the surgeon is in Richmond and won't be here until Tuesday. Haley might not make it," Nathan tells him sadly.

Luke looks at him. "You can't let that happen, will you? Nathan, it's Haley we're talking about here. She can't die!"

"Don't you think I know that?!" he exclaims standing up. "I don't want to lose her either. But we don't have many options here. To get a surgeon for this operation would take weeks to schedule, even months," Nathan says sounding defeated. "She could die, Luke. I don'...I don't...I don't want to lose her again," he says as tears fell down his face. He struggles to keep them in, but they overflowed and trickles down his face. Luke hugs his brother.

"Don't worry, she won't go anywhere," Luke tells him. "We won't let anything happen to her." Nathan cries on his shoulder and prayed that nothing happens to her.

Lucas and Brook went home to rest and Nathan stays at the hospital to watch Haley. He sits by her bedside he held her hand. Haley stirs and opens her eyes to see Nathan looking at her.

"Nate?" she asks softly. He smiles at her and moves closer.

"Hi, how are you feeling?" he asks.

"I feel like crap," she tells him and laughs. He laughs and touches her face.

"I'm glad you're awake," he tells her. "I was afraid you left me for good."

She touches his hands and shakes her head. "I'm not going anywhere anymore." He smiles and kisses her hand. She smiles and moves over a little and motions for Nathan to join her in bed. He slowly position himself next to her and puts his arms around her. She lays her head on his shoulder.

"Hales, promise me you won't go anywhere," Nathan says looking down at her.

"I promise," she tells him. "I'll always be with you."

He kisses her head and sighs. He sees the box that he brought in and picks it up and puts it in his lap. He opens it to look inside.

"I still can't believe you still have all our stuff," Haley tells him.

"I kept it even after you left. But when I saw you with Andy, I was about to throw it away but then I don't know what happened, I just kept it. I knew there must be a reason for me to keep them." Haley lifts her head. Their eyes met and he slowly leans in and kisses her. She kisses him back as her hand touches his face and neck. They both pull apart and smiles.

"Why? Why didn't you just forget about me, Nathan? It would have been much easier," she tells him looking at him.

He shakes his head. "I couldn't. I love you, Hales. I only love you."

She smiles. "I love you too." He smiles and shows her a picture of them together outside the school. She laughs. The wind was blowing her hair in a million direction. But you can still see the love in their eyes. She touches the picture.

"You know, they're going to shave off my hair," she says softly. He turns to look at her.

"You'll always look beautiful no matter what," he tells her and kisses her cheeks.

She smiles. "I love you Nathan Scott."

"I love you Haley James–," he stops.

"What is it?" Haley asks.

"Something doesn't sound right," he tells her.

"What?"

"Haley James," he says to himself. "Haley James."

Haley looks at him in confusion.

"Haley James Scott," he says. He smiles. "That sounds better." Nathan turns to her and laughs. She laughs at him and returns to the pictures.

"Haley," he asks. She looks up at him. "Will you marry me?"

Haley freezes. She is surprise at this and is speechless.

"Will you marry me," he asks again looking into her eyes.

"Nathan, I–,"

"Please say yes," he tells her. He takes her hands and looks into her eyes.

"I don't want to hurt you, Nate–,"

"You won't, Haley. Marry me," he says. "I'll take care of you and I'll always love you." Tears swell up in her eyes. "Haley, marry me."

She smiles and nods slowly. A smile appears on his face and he hugs her tightly.

"I love you," he says into her ear.

"I love you too." Nathan reaches into his pocket and revealed an engagement ring with a pink emerald. Haley gasps.

"It's for you. I bought it a long time ago. I was on tour in Europe and saw it. It made me think of you every time I look at it." He slid it onto her finger and kissed her.

As they wake up next to each other, they embrace each other's presence. Nathan kisses her forehead and gets out of bed.

"I'll be back, okay? I'm going to get some breakfast," he says as he leaves the room. Haley sighs and smiles. Somehow in the mist of all the problems, she couldn't help but feel like she was floating on air. She decided to go use the bathroom and tidy herself up. She carefully got out of bed and starts to walk to the bathroom when she collapse. Nathan meets Brooke in the hallway and walks up to her with his tray of food.

"Nathan, how's she doing?" Brooke asks worried.

"Brooke, what are you doing here? Does Luke know you're here?" Nathan asks.

Brooke nods. "He's here too. He went to the gift shop."

"Oh, I see. Don't worry, Haley's going to be alright," Nathan assured the pregnant Brooke.

Brooke nods to assure herself. "Can I go see her?" she asks. Nathan smiles and leads the way to Haley's room. Nathan stops abruptly and drops his tray and runs to her side. Brooke gasps and runs over to him.

"Oh, my god, Haley," she says softly in disbelief as Nathan picks her up into his arms and walks over to the bed. He places her gently on the bed and presses the red button for the nurse. He stays by her side and holds her hand as Brooke does the same to the opposite side.

The nurses and doctors came rushing in with trays of needles and medicine. Brooke moves aside as they starts to draw her blood and take her temperature.

Haley awakens from consciousness and starts to scream in pain. Nathan holds her hand and hushes her softly with his voice.

"It's okay, babe, I'm right here," he says softly as tears trickles down his face. It was too much to watch her go through it. Her agony made Nathan suffer the most. Haley's scream continues to ring throughout the room. Nathan sees Brooke petrified and in shock.

"Brooke, get out please. Brooke!" he says. In tears, Brooke leaves the room into the arms of Lucas. They watch through the windows as the doctors continue to examine her. Nathan watches in pain as they stick her with long needles and change her IVs. He couldn't help the tears that runs down his cheeks.

Finally, the drug made Haley too exhausted and she fell asleep. Nathan strokes her hair gently and let go of her hand. He walks outside to meet Lucas and Brooke.

"How's she doing?" Lucas asks quickly.

Nathan looks at him. "She's fine for now."

"Nathan, can't we do anything to help her?" Brooke asks worried. Lucas turns to her.

"She's suffering too much. We need to help her," she tells him.

Nathan smiles. "Thanks Brooke. But we can't really do anything until the surgeon gets here."

"Nathan–,"

"Thanks Brooke. Haley's going to be fine. Why don't you go home and take a rest? Luke, take Brooke home and get some sleep, the two of you," Nathan says. "You two look like crap."

They look at him and only smile for they know he's hurting inside twice as badly. They nod in agreement and leaves. Nathan returns to the room and sits by Haley's side. He picks up her hand and places it against his face.

"Hales, don't give up. Only a couple more days to go. You can make it, Hales. I know you can," he whispers.

Nathan wakes up to see Haley smiling at him. He winces as the sunlight gets to him.

"Hi," he says returning his gaze to her. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine now," she answers. "I'm sorry to wake you."

"No, it's fine. I wanted to see your face anyway," he answers and smiles.

"You looked so peaceful," she tells him. He laughs.

"Really? Well, that's just to cover up how I really look like," he says and smirks.

"No, you always look beautiful no matter what," she says.

"Hales–,"

"Nathan, we should cut my hair now," she says and turns to look at the pair of scissors on her night stand. Nathan looks at it and realize it was starting to come down to this.

Strand by strand, her hair flew to the ground. She looks at herself in the mirror and tries not to move to much. Nathan had gone home to get his buzzer and carefully shaves Haley's head. Many thoughts ran through her head. She was afraid, afraid, that it might be the end of her. It might be the last time she and Nathan could be together. Scared that it might be the last time she sees Nathan.

"Done," Nathan says. "You look beautiful." He looks at her and smiles. "Actually, you look pretty hot." Haley laughs at this and playfully hits him on the arm.

"What? I'm just telling the truth. You look great," he says.

Haley touches her head and smiles. "I love that feeling." She gets up and walks up to Nathan.

"I'm sorry–,"

"Haley, don't be sorry. I love you for who you are, not what you look like. As long as I have you here by my side, I'm happy," he says and wraps his arms around her waist. She leans into him and kisses him softly on the lips.

"Thank you. Thank you so much," she says as tears run down her cheeks. "I don't know what I'll do without you."

"You won't have to worry about that, because, I'll always be with you, no matter what," he answers and kisses her forehead and hugs her tightly. He's never going to let her go.

As Haley made it through the third night, Andy told them that the surgeon had arrived and the preparations were being made. Nathan turns to Haley as Andy leaves.

"Here we are, Hales," he says. "We made it." He looks at her. She lost a lot of weight lately and had turned very pale, but she was happy and wearing her favorite green hat. Haley smiles and nods.

"And here we are. Another obstacle in our way," she says looking at him.

"And as always, we'll make it," he tells her confidently. He kisses her cheeks.

"I love you Nathan," Haley says.

"I love you too," Nathan replies. Lucas and Brooke stops by before the surgery and gives them their best wishes and leaves in tears. Haley lies on the bed nervous and scare. Nathan bends over her and takes her hand.

"It'll all be alright. I'll be the first person you see," he tells her. Tears form in her eyes as she nods. Everything was coming down to this. Her fate lies in the hands of this surgery.

"Nathan, there's something I need to tell you," Haley says. "But I'll tell you when I wake up from the surgery." Nathan smiles trying to distract her from the tears falling down his face.

"I understand. I love you," he says softly. The nurses came in and starts to roll her down the hall. Nathan walks along side her. He feels her grip on him tightens. His heart race and he could feel the butterflies in his stomach. He wasn't ready to let her go. He doesn't want to let her go. They stop at the doors that lead to the surgery room. Nathan looks at her one last time.

"Remember James, you promised," he says as calmly as he can. Haley smiles.

"And I alway keep my promise," she answers. As tears form in his eyes, he bends down and kisses her on the lips for it may be their last kiss. Haley feels the wetness from Nathan's tears and couldn't help keeping hers in. Nathan looks at her.

"I love you," he says.

"I love you too," she answers. She looks at Nathan. "Nathan, if I don'–,"

"Don't Haley–,"

"Nathan, if I don't make it. You have to move on, okay?" she asks in tears.

"No," he tells her shaking his head.

"Nathan, you have to move on and forget about me, okay? I only want you to be happy," she says barely catching her breath. "I won't forgive you ever if you don't."

Nathan looks into her eyes.

"Nate, I love you," she says. Nathan cries into her chest.

"Hales, come back, okay?" he asks desperately. "I need you to come back."

"I'll try," she answers crying. She runs her hand through his hair. Nathan shakes his head.

"Nathan, I have to go now," she says. Nathan lifts his head. He kisses her once more and says, "I love you."


	8. So, we were friends

The sunlight shines through the window and shines on her auburn hair. Haley stirs in her sleep. She opens her eyes to discover an empty room. Flowers surrounds her bed. She looks around and sees that the sun is already up. She turns around and sees a picture of her and a boy smiling. The door opens. A boy stands there with his eyes wide open and freezes in his steps. He is holding a vase of red roses. He quickly walks over to her and places the vase on the table and looks back at her.

"Haley," he says happily. "You're awake."

Haley stares at him, scared.

"Haley?" Nathan asks worried. "Do you know where you are?" Haley doesn't answer.

"Do you know who I am?" Nathan asks, worried to hear her answer.

Haley looks at him scared. He suddenly got the answer to his question.

"Don't worry. You're safe here. Let me go and call your parents." He quickly walks out the room and closes the door. He stands against the door and smiles to himself as tears roll down his cheeks. He was never so happy yet so sad at the same time. For a moment he cried his heart out thinking of what was going to happen. Haley had lost her memory and he didn't know what to do. He took out his cell phone and dialed Lucas's phone number.

Five minutes later all the Scotts and James crowded into one tiny room welcoming Haley back into the world. Haley of course didn't say much. One by one as they all left, Lucas looks at Nathan as he sits in the waiting room. Luke makes his way over to Nathan and sits next to him.

"What a day," he comments sighing. Nathan chuckles at his remark.

"What are you going to do now?"

"I really don't know," Nathan answers with his head down.

"She doesn't remember anyone. It must be hard on you."

Nathan turns to look at Luke. "It's probably harder for her. She's surrounded by all these faces that she doesn't remember. She's probably scared to death. She's been in a coma for a four years already."

Luke looks at him.

"Luke, don't tell her about us. She's afraid of me and I don't want to scare her," Nathan tells him avoiding his look.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't want her to know that we were together in the past. Just tell her that I'm just an old friend."

Lucas looks confused. "Are you giving up?"

Nathan turns to look at him. "No, I'm doing just the opposite." He smiles and walks away. Lucas looks after and wonders what is going on.

After Haley was released, her parents moved back to Tree Hill and into their old house. Haley was under their care and Nathan occasionally dropped by. It was hard to adjust his schedule since he has games but he always return to Tree Hill when it's over. Haley slowly adjusted to life. She found a job working at Tree Hill as a tutor. One day while she was taking a break outside and man waved his hand at her and walked towards her. She looked confused.

"Hi," he greeted.

"Hi," she answered back unsure.

He laughed. "You don't remember me, huh?"

She shook her head.

"I'm Nathan. I was the guy that was in your room when you woke up," he explained to her.

Her eyes widen as she remembered then her expression changed.

"Oh," she said.

"I'm Nathan."

"I see," she answers.

"I heard that you work here. I was in the area and thought that I should come by to say hi," he told her. He looked at her eyes and her hair. Her hair had grown tremendously long since the day he cut her hair. But she looked exactly the same. His heart ached for putting on such an act. He wanted to blurt out everything to her. But he couldn't. It wasn't time yet.

"How do we know each other?" she asks him.

"We met through Luke. He was your best friend and he's also my half brother."

"Oh," she answers. "So we were friends?"

"You could say that," he told her.

She looks at him. He looks back at her. For a silent moment they studied each other.

Their moment was broken when her co worker called her from behind.

"I'm sorry, but I have to get back to work," she told Nathan. He smiles.

"I understand. I won't stop you. I guess I'll see you around." He waved to her and left.

"What do you mean?" Brooke asks. They were cooking in Brooke and Lucas's house.

"I meant, he seemed kinda weird," Haley told her.

"In a bad or good way?"

"I don't know. I get this feeling and I don't think it's in a good way," Haley tells her. "He's kinda scary once I think about it."

Brooke stops stirring and turns to look at Haley who was chopping some carrots.

"Haley, he's Lucas's brother. Plus, he is a good friend of ours."

"I know. You told me before."

"Well, he's in town for some press conference and he's on vacation after that, so I suggest you get use to it, Haley," Brooke told her.

"Mommy," a little boy said as he walks into the kitchen.

"Jamie," Brooke answers. She shrieks as she sees his hands. "Have you been playing with dirt again?"

He shakes his head innocently. "Why, I should tell your daddy and let him punish you." She picks him up and heads for the bathroom leaving a hysterically laughing Haley behind.

"Luke," Nathan says as he enters the garage. Luke smiles at him. He walks to Nathan and shakes his hand.

"What are you doing here?" Luke asks.

"I'm here to talk to you."

They sat on the nearby benches.

"Haley's made a great amount of progress. The doctor says she's done better that most patient would. But however, none of her memory has returned."

Nathan stared at the ground.

"It may not seem like good news but it is. She's moving on and fast. I know you want things to go back to the way they were, but she's not there. Physically she is. But not emotionally and spiritually. She doesn't know anything about you."

"I know. I saw her today," Nathan told him. "She didn't even remember me from the hospital."

"Nathan, I am telling you as a brother, I'm worried about you. You haven't been out much since the surgery and you've practically spent 4 years at the hospital. Now that Haley's awake, you should tell her. Or at least move on. I personally would prefer it if you move on. She's not the same person anymore, Nathan. I know this personally." Lucas says disappointed. He turns to Nathan. "Move on, Nathan, and forget all this. It won't do you any good looking back."

Nathan looks at him and smile. "If I could quit, I would have done it sooner. I'm in this for Haley. I promised her I would stay by her side no matter what. I intend to stand by my promise."

"Nathan..."

"Thanks for your concern, but I know what I'm doing." Lucas sighs.

"Why are you so stubborn?" Luke jokes.

Nathan laughs.


	9. The start of something familiar

"Well, anyway, tomorrow's my mom's seventh wedding anniversary and she's renewing her vows with Keith. Be there on time and dressed and this time, don't go looking for trouble. My mother still haven't forgiven you for ruining her wedding last time." Nathan chuckles, thinking back to that day. He and Haley had been messing around and ended up falling into the pond.

"Yea, no more stunts, Nathan," Lucas tells him.

"Yea, yea, I know," Nathan tells him. "I'll be on my best behavior this time."

As people arrived, Nathan stood around to greet the guests. Lucas walks up to Nathan with little Jamie in his arms.

"Hey man, when's this thing going to start?" Nathan asks.

"Soon. Why are you in such a hurry?" Lucas asks.

"Nothing. I just hate weddings."

"Uncle Nate, I think you should have a wedding," Jamie says.

Nathan laughs and looks at the little boy. He looks exactly like Lucas.

"And who would I marry?" he asks Jamie.

Jamie shrugs. Just then, Nathan happens to catch a glance of Haley walking next to Brooke. She looked gorgeous all dressed up. He couldn't keep his eyes off of her. The way she was laughing, her hair shimmering under the sunlight, and her eyes glowing. Her presence still could make him weak in the knees. Every time he sees her, his heart beat fast, unable to control its rhythm. Luke turns to see what Nathan was looking at and realizes it was Haley.

"Mommy!" Jamie exclaimed and managed to get out from his father's grasp and ran toward Brooke and Haley.

"Hey sweetie. You look very handsome today," Brooke complimented him. He blushed. "And you look vewy pretty too mommy."

Haley laughed. "Aww."

Lucas and Nathan walked toward the girls and smiled.

"I think everyone looks great today," Brooke said to the guys.

The music sounded and it was time to take a seat. Everyone except Haley walked towards the chairs. Nathan turns around to see what was going on with her. She walks away not knowing that Nathan was watching her. He follows her. She stops by the pond and looks into her palm. Nathan wonders what she is doing and slowly moves in closer to her. She looks so serious. He tries to see what she was looking at. He steps closer to her but she quickly turns around.

"What are you doing?" she demanded. Nathan stops and straighten himself up.

"I should ask you the same, shouldn't you be over there?" he asks her moving in closer.

Haley suspiciously watches him.

"So what? That's my business. Are you stalking me?" she asks.

"What if I am?" he says and quickly grabs her hand. She fought back but ends up losing. Nathan smiles proudly. He opens up his hand to sing a silver ring with a pink emerald. He was speechless. He looked up to see Haley.

"You happy now?" Haley asks annoyed.

"How...What...What is this?" he asks almost speechless.

"It's mine. Brooke says that that ring belongs to me. She found it on my finger while I was still unconscious and took it to make sure it was safe," Haley explained.

"What were you doing with it?" Nathan asks.

"I thought maybe I could remember my past with the ring," Haley tells him.

"And?" he asks wondering if it worked.

"Nothing," Haley answers disappointed.

Haley made a move and grabbed his hand.

"Give it back. It's mine." Together they fought to keep the ring. Nathan moves closer to her and held her hands to keep her from gaining access but he tripped over and landed on top of her. Slowly the began to fall back and into the pond. Splashes of water went everywhere. Haley screamed. Quickly a crowd came over to see the commotion.

"Not again," Lucas says under his breath.

"Nathan Scott!" Deb yelled. "What on earth are you doing?"

Nathan wiped the water away from his face. He turned to look at Haley and laughed. They were completely soaked.

"Get out of there!" Karen yelled.

Flashback:

_It was also at Karen's wedding when: A younger Nathan is walking slowly and silently behind Haley. The wedding ceremony has already begun, but both of them aren't paying attention. _

"_Boo!" he yelled and pushed a younger Haley._

"_AHH!" she screamed and glared at him._

"_What are you doing pipsqueak?" he asked her._

_She rolled her eyes at him. "None of your business, idiot," she replied. He frowned at her comment. He looked at her hand._

"_What's that?" he asked._

"_Nothing," she replied as she hid her hand behind her back. He reached out and grabbed her hand and pulled them out. He snatch it and revealed it._

"_What's this?" It was a piece of paper. He read it and slowly looks up at Haley._

"_What's this?" he asks again._

"_It's a letter from my mom. She wrote it before she died," Haley told him. She extends her hand. "Now give it back. It's mine." Nathan pulled away but Haley quickly reaches for it and grabs his hand. Slowly they begin to fall back and ended up in the pond. Nathan gasps for air and quickly looks at his hand. The letter was ruined with the ink all smeared. Haley saw it too. A crowd quickly forms around them and Karen made her way to them and starts yelling. Haley was numb and starts to cry silently. She starts to get out and ran away wiping her tears away. _

End of Flashback...

"Didn't I tell you to stay out of trouble this time," Lucas asks Nathan standing next to the bathroom door.

"I know. But I couldn't help it," Nathan yelled through the other room. Nathan opens the door and came out dressed in a new outfit.

"I can't believe that history has repeated itself," Lucas says half laughing half surprised.

Nathan sat down on the nearby benches and touched his hair, which was still wet. He combed his hair with his fingers and looked at Lucas.

"Why did Brooke have Haley's ring?" he asked.

"Oh that. Brooke was afraid that someone might steal it," Lucas explains. "She kept it, hoping that one day she would be able to give it back to Haley. But Haley doesn't even remember the ring."

"I gave it to her," Nathan says.

Lucas looks at him.

"I asked her to marry me with that ring," Nathan explains. "Don't tell her."

"Why not? Why are you hiding all these from her?" Lucas asks.

"Can't you see it in her face? She hates me," Nathan asks. "If I tell her, she'll probably be horrified or too traumatized to understand. I don't want to lose her that way." Nathan looks at Luke who was apparently lost. Nathan sighs. "It's too complicated."

"But Nathan..."

"Excuse me now. I have some serious apologizing to do. I don't think it's going to be easy either. Your mother likes jewelry, right?" he says and walks away.

"I cannot believe that just happened," Haley whined to Brooke. "He embarrassed me in front of everyone."

"Gotta admit, it was kinda funny," Brooke says laughing.

"No it wasn't. I cannot believe it. I hate him."

"Haley, you know this happened before. You and him falling into that pond and it was at Karen's wedding. What a coincidence."

Haley looks at her.

"What do you mean?"

"Well this event that just happened today, has happened over ten years ago," Brooke explains.

"I guess that explains it. I never had a good feeling about him. I probably hated him since then too."

"_Actually, Hales, you loved him to death_", Brooke wanted to say out loud. But she only smiled and looked at Haley.

At the party, the bride and groom danced happily on the dance floor as Haley gave Nathan dirty looks. Nathan returned them with his famous smirk.

"Man, she doesn't look to happy with you," Lucas says.

"I know. But I'm getting a kick out of it though," Nathan says as he blew a kiss her way. She rolled her eyes and made a fist at him. Lucas laughs at the sight of this.

"You guys were pretty funny together," he says. Nathan smiles at his comment.

Brooke walks up to Lucas.

"Can I please have this dance?" she asks and takes him away to the dance floor.

Nathan smiles at the sight of them together. "The perfect life that I would never have," he thought to himself.


	10. The starting point

Hey guys. So I really didn't have a chance to thank all of my readers and to thank everyone for their comments and reviews. Thanks. I'm sorry it took a while. So to make up for it, I posted a couple of chappies for ya.. Enjoy!

Haley was so into her conversation with the guy that she didn't notice a Jamie tugging at her skirt.

"Oh, what is it Jamie?" she asks bending down to look at him. He reaches out his arm and hands her a letter. Haley looks at it and takes it. Jamie runs away before Haley could ask him any questions.

She opens up the letter.

"Go to the rooftop, you might find what you are looking for." She looks around to see who sent her the letter. She quickly ran to the staircase and ran all the way up. She opens the door and searches for somebody. She sees another letter by the edge held down by a rock.

"This place was where it all started. You don't know yet, but it's starting all over again." Haley looks around. No one was around. Slowly and disappointed, she starts to walk back downstairs. Without knowing it, Nathan was watching her every move. Nathan's heart ached, but this was how it's got to be.

Flashback:

_A crying younger Haley is crying on the rooftop during the reception. A younger Nathan makes his way towards her._

"_Hey," he said sitting next to her. Haley turned away from him._

"_C'mon, I said I was sorry for ruining your mother's letter," he pleaded._

"_Go away," she snapped._

"_I can't. Not when you're like this," he answers. Haley continues to ignore him._

"_C'mon. I'm really sorry. What can I do to make you stop crying?" he asks._

"_Can you go back in time?" she asks sarcastically._

"_No," he answers back sadly._

"_Then no. You can't make up for what just happened."_

"_You want me to sing for you?" Nathan asked. Haley stops and looks at him all teary eyed. _

_Nathan starts to sing out loud._

"_You are my sunshine. My only sunshine. When you're not happy, my skies are grey..." He looked at Haley to see what she would do._

_Haley laughed suddenly and wiped away her tears._

"_Yes, Haley James finally laughs!" Nathan exclaimed happily. "Look, I'm really sorry about what happened. I know you must miss your mom. If you want, you can have mine."_

_Haley scoffed. "I don't want your mom."_

"_Then you can treat me as your mom," he offered._

_Haley laughed. "I'm hungry."_

"_But I can't cook," Nathan tells her sadly._

"_Then you can't be my mom," she tells him. "But you can go grab me some of Karen's wedding cake." Nathan smiles and leaves._

End of Flashback...

"So what? Are you telling me you're coaching at Tree Hill?" Lucas asks Nathan.

Nathan nods. "I might as well do something while I'm here."

"It's been a long time since we went there," Lucas says handing him a cup of coffee.

"Yea I know. So much memories were made in that school," Nathan commented.

"Yea, good ones and bad ones."

"But since Whitey's on vacation, they asked me. I don't mind, so I accepted," Nathan tells him.

"I would do it, except, I'm busy with Jamie and trying to build that extra bathroom for Brooke," Lucas says.

"Why don't you just find someone to do it for you?" Nathan asks.

"That's what I asked Brooke. But she says it'll mean more if I build it with my own hands," he says and scoffs, " Girls, always so sentimental."

Nathan laughs.

"You know you'll see Haley more too," Lucas tells him. "She's still tutoring at the school. She says it might help to uncover her memories."

"Oh, really?" Nathan asks. "Luke, I saw her talking to a guy yesterday, is she seeing anyone?"

"Hales? She's been on dates but she hasn't told me about anyone in particular," Luke tells him.

"Oh," Nathan answers.

----------------------------------------------

Haley is in the tutoring center helping out a student with her homework.

"Ok Amy, all you need to do now is find the formula to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit and substitute in the numbers that they give us," Haley explains.

Amy smiles. "Thanks, Haley."

"No problem," she answers.

"Haley, what year did you graduate?" Amy asks.

"Uh...I don't remember," she answers. "Why?"

"I heard that Nathan Scott is coaching the boys basket ball and thought maybe you were one of his classmate."

"Huh. I don't know. But he's coaching the basketball team?"

"Yea, I even heard that he's a player on and off the court. But he's so dreamy," Amy tells her.

"Amy, those guys are the guys that you need to watch out for," Haley advises her.

"I know, it's nice to dream though."

-----------------------------

Nathan makes his way towards the gym and sees the players all lined up and waiting for him.

"Hey guys," he says casually. "First of, I'm your new coach. And second, there's something we need to do before we start off the season."

The guys look at him intently.

"I saw all your records and saw that your grades are very bad. So I'm telling you right now, either bring your grades up or drop out."

Haley continues to help Amy out when she hears a commotion at the entry. She turns to look and sees a group of teenage boys crowding through the door. She stands up stunned at the sight. She walks over to them.

"What is going on here?" she asks.

"We need some tutoring," one of them answers her.

"What?"

"Coach Scott says that if we don't bring up our grades then, we'll be dropped from the team," another tells her.

-----------------------------

Nathan is shooting some hoops when Haley walks into the gym furiously.

"Scott!"she yells at him. He stops and turns around.

"Oh, hi Haley," he greets her.

"What are you doing?" she yells.

"Shooting some hoops," he says as he placed the ball on his hip.

"I mean with your players. I can't help your entire team. They aren't serious about it. They've been creating chaos and trouble ever since they came into the tutoring center. All because of you," she tells him.

"They need all the help you can give," he says and smiles. She rolls her eye at him.

"I can't help them if they aren't serious. I'm sorry but I can't," she says and walk away.

"Their future is in your hand. You'll be the one who's telling them their future is over. You'll be to blame for the ruining the town's record," Nathan yelled at her.

Haley stops.

"Can't you just give them a chance?" he asks.

Haley turns around. "Fine, but if they're not serious and not showing any progress, I can't help them anymore." She storms off. Nathan laughs at the sight of this.

Flashback:

"_You have to help me, Haley," Nathan pleads. They were talking to each other in the hallway._

"_I can't. Sorry. You see, I don't waste my time teaching math to a monkey," she said crossing her arm across her chest.._

"_Haley come on. If I don't bring my grades up, Whitey will drop me from the team," Nathan tells her._

"_I don't care. That's your problem." She starts to walk away from him._

"_It'll be your problem too. You know that the mayor is a big basketball fan, right? If we lose the championship because I couldn't play, you'll be blamed for it. Why can't you be a little more sympathetic?" Haley sighed angrily. She turns around and glared at him._

"_I promise no more joking around. I'll be more serious this time," he promised her._

"_Alright, Scott. But if you screw up one more time, consider your basketball career as well as your life over," she threatened him. He smiles as she walks away._

"_Alright. Thanks. You know, I knew you had a heart in you after all," he yelled as she was walking away._

"_Scott!" she yelled back in frustration and leaves._

End of Flashback...

At the end of the day, Haley walks out of the school, exhausted and tired. Nathan is going home too and sees Haley. He runs to her and walks beside her. Haley sees him and ignores him.

"Where are you going after this?" Nathan asks.

Haley continues ignore him. Nathan looks down at her. She looks irritated.

"Are you really that mad at me, Miss James?" he asks jokingly.

Haley looks at him roughly and wrinkles her brow. She doesn't say anything and walks faster. Nathan laughs and caught up with her.

"You have to talk to me someday," he says.

"Look, I'm not in the mood to play games with you, okay?" she snapped at him. "I don't understand why you're following me but I don't like it."

Nathan smiles.

"I had a bad feeling about you the first time I saw you. I don't know why. Maybe you pissed me off in the past or maybe we just didn't like each other, but please, it hasn't changed. Leave me alone," she pleads with him.

Nathan smiles. "James, I'm not going to leave you that easily," he tells her and walks away. Haley scoffs angrily.


	11. More than you'll ever know

Nathan laid asleep in his bed murmuring. It happens every night. The dreams occur every night. He remembers it so well but even so, he isn't able to stop it.

"_Daddy!" a little girl cries and runs towards Nathan. The little girl looks vaguely familiar. The same rich blonde hair, the same smile but she had his eyes. He reaches down and picks her up into his chest. _

"_How are you princess?" he asks. _

"_I miss you daddy," she tells him. He smiles and kisses her cheeks._

"_You're finally back," a voice says. Nathan looks ahead and sees her. She looks gorgeous. She crosses her arms against her chest and leans on the wall._

_He smiles. His heart raced. She was still able to make him blush. She slowly makes her way towards him._

"_I missed you Haley," he tells her. She opens her mouth to speak but vanishes into thin air. The little girl is gone too._

Nathan gasps for air and sits up in bed. He hates himself. He hates how he lets it play with his mind. He hates the game and the effect that it took on him. He looks out the window. There's barely any light out. He gets up and starts with his daily run.

Running gets his mind off of things. It lets his mind roam and lets him relax. He ran in his usual routine, stopping in front of Haley's house and continuing to run from there. He stops to catch a breath at the riverside court and sees Haley sitting at the bleachers. He walks towards her while panting and trying to calm his breathing.

"What are you doing here so early?" he yells to her.

Haley suddenly turns around to see who it was. Seeing that it was Nathan, she frowned.

"Couldn't sleep," she tells him. Nathan stands beside her.

"Me neither," he says. Haley stares out into the field ahead of her. Nathan watches her. Her eyes, her nose, her lips, all so familiar to him. Her hair is blowing with the wind. Her presence is so familiar. He wanted to hold her, kiss her and tell her he loves her right then and there. But Haley broke his moment.

"Why are you staring at me?" she asks.

Nathan chuckles and blushes.

"I don't know why, but this place feels so safe and so familiar. Whenever I am down or sad, I come here," she tells him. Nathan looks at her.

"Is that why you're here? You're sad?" he asks.

She nods. She looks at her finger. Nathan looks too and sees the ring on her finger.

"I want to find out who gave me this ring and find out my past. I want to remember, but I can't," she tells him. "I feel that whoever gave me this must be an important person to me."

Nathan looks at her, his eyes watering.

"No one is willing to tell me who. No one knows," she tells him. "Do you know?"

Nathan slowly shakes his head. "Sorry," he says. He wanted to beat himself up for lying and causing them so much pain.

"Oh," she said in a disappointed voice.

"But I think that you don't have to search too far to find that person," Nathan comforts her. "It may be easier than you think. That person could be right in front of you."

Haley looks at him and smiles. "You're right. Maybe I'm over thinking it." Nathan chuckles. Sometimes she seems like she hasn't lost her memory at all.

"Will you help me?" she asks. Nathan chokes on his saliva and begins to cough. Haley looks at him eyes wide open.

"Are you okay?" she asks patting him on the back. Nathan struggles to calm down and nods. He looks at Haley.

"Will you help me?" she asks again.

Nathan looks at her. Her face so innocent and pure, how can he say no?

"Sure," he says nervously wanting to kill himself. Haley gives him a big smile.

"Thank you!"

------------------------------------

Lucas almost chokes when he hears what Nathan had told him.

"Yea, I did the same thing too," Nathan tells him. Lucas wipes his mouth off with his sleeve.

"But you still agreed to it?"

Nathan nods. "She made that face," he says sighing. "Seeing her like that makes me forget that she lost her memory. Some times she seems so...like Haley."

"But she isn't. At least not yet. So don't set yourself up for disappointment," Lucas advises him. Nathan nods. "So what are you going to do?"

Nathan shrugs his shoulders. "Honestly, I don't know."

"Well, be careful. This is a very fragile subject. There are two outcomes: either she accepts you or hates you."

--------------------------------

The school bell rings and Haley searches for Nathan in the school gym. Nathan comes out from the locker room and smiles at the sight of her. He walks towards her.

"Hi," he says.

"Hi, I was wondering if you were busy today," Haley says.

"No, why?" he asks.

"Then you can help me find the person who gave me the ring," Haley beams.

"Oh, uh..."

"You promised, Scott. You should stick to your promise," she reminds him sternly.

He laughed nervously. "Yea, I guess."

"Good, now lets get moving," she says and turns around.

"Wait, I need to get my jacket," Nathan tells her. He quickly disappears into the office. Haley waits impatiently out in the gym. As minutes goes by, she starts to get suspicious. Nathan hasn't come out yet. She goes into the office and looks for him. He wasn't there.

"Nathan?" she asks. "Where are you?"

She walks in the boys' locker room and yells, "Nathan?"

"Over here," she hears a muffled voice say. She looks at a door. And opens it. Nathan was standing in the closet relieved to see Haley.

"You! Some nerve you got Scott!" She begins to walk towards him as the door closes behind them. Nathan notices this and yells, "NO!" as he runs at the door but it was too late. The door closed.

"What?" Haley asks.

Nathan looks at her mad. "The door is locked," he explains.

Haley's expression fell. "Are you serious?" She quickly runs to the door and tries to open it but it was locked for sure. She turns to Nathan.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she yells.

"Well if you weren't so busy yelling at me, maybe I could have told you!" he snapped at her. She looks offended.

"Calm down you big baby. I have my cell phone," Haley tells him. She takes out her phone and turns it on. She starts to dial the phone number.

"Hello? Luke? Great. I need...Hello? Hello? Luke?"

Nathan looks at her worried. "What?" he asks.

"My phone died," she says sadly.

He sighs. "Great, school's over so no one will even know that we're here."

"Maybe we could break the door down," Haley suggests. Nathan slowly fell to the floor and sat down by the wall. Haley looks at him.

"We can't give up yet," she tells him. He ignores her.

"Nathan!" she says surprise at his willing to quit so soon.

"Look! I hate it as much as you do but there's nothing else we can do, alright?" he tells her.

Haley looks at him taken back. She settles into her own corner silently.

Nathan hated it. He was stuck in a room all alone with Haley. It's not that he didn't want to be with her. He didn't want to be tempted to tell her that he loved her. He wanted to protect her and being alone in a room wouldn't help the situation. He looks over at her. She looks scare, nervous and uncomfortable. He moves closer to her.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you," he says.

She looks at him. "It's okay. I didn't mean to yell at you either."

"I guess we're stuck in here until someone finds us," he says.

"I'm scared," she tells him. He looks at her and smiles.

"Don't worry. Someone will find us. Maybe a custodian will stop by or something. If not, we still have school tomorrow."

"No, I'm scared. I hate being in a position where I can't do anything. I hate just sitting back and waiting to see what'll happen next," she explains to him.

"I know what you mean," he says. "It makes you feel lifeless and always preparing but getting disappointed in the end."

Haley looks at him. Why does he understand her so much? Why does she feel this way about him?

"Nathan?" she asks quietly.

"Hmm?" he answers.

She looks at him. "Uh, nothing," she answers and looks away.

Nathan laughs. "You know, you remind me of someone I love very much," he tells her.

Haley return her glance to him.

"Someone you love?" she asks. Nathan nods.

"She was cute in every way. I loved that she could make me smile and make these terrible jokes just to hear me laugh at her. She was an amazing person with a beautiful heart."

Haley couldn't believe the words he just said. She didn't know that Nathan was seeing someone else.

"So where is she?" she found the courage to ask. Nathan looks at her and smiles.

"She left," he answers. Before Haley could ask anymore question, the door opens and there stood a custodian. They both left the school and were in the parking lot. It had gotten dark already.

"Do you need a ride home?" he asks Haley. She shook her head.

"No, I'm fine. Sorry about today," she tells him.

"Don't worry. It's not everyday I get locked up with Haley James," he jokes and got in his car. Haley laughs and gets into her own car.

-----------------------------------

The next day, she finds herself unable to face Nathan. She wasn't sure how to act towards him now. After what he'd told her, she didn't what to think of it.

"Miss James?" Amy asks interrupting her train of thought. Haley snapped back and looks at Amy.

"How do you do this problem?" Amy asks.

Nathan was alone in his office when Haley knocked on the door. He looks up and sees Haley. He smiles and stands up.

"Hi, I just wanted to see you and...look...about that favor I asked you, just forget it," she tells him. Nathan looks at her confused.

"Why?" he asks.

"I... well... I don't think it's important anymore. I mean, it's just a ring. Now that I think about it, I'm pretty silly to think that a ring could help me uncover my past. Anyone could have given it to me. So just forget the whole thing. I appreciate your help though."

Nathan nods. Haley attempted a smile and walks away. She was such a fool, she thought.

------------------------------

Haley found herself at the pond where she fell into with Nathan. With tears rolling down her cheeks, she tossed the ring into the pond and looks away. It was painful for her, but she needed a clean start. She needed to focus on her future instead of her past. She walked away.

Nathan went over to Lucas's for dinner. Brooke brought out the food and placed them on the table. Together, they sat down and said grace. After, they started to eat.

"How's coaching the team?" Lucas asks.

"It's alright. They're all great players. But some on them needs a little more work," Nathan answers.

"I say, they got it easy, with Whitey gone and all," Lucas answers.

"Hey, did you call Haley?" Brooke asks changing the subject.

Nathan looks up to hear the answer.

"I did, but she said she got a date," Luke tells her. Nathan felt a sharp piercing through his heart as soon as he heard the answer. He continued to eat silently with Lucas's answer in mind.

Nathan was still at Lucas's house the next morning babysitting Jamie. Luke was about to run out and grab some more tools for the new bathroom.

"Hey, Nate, don't go into the bathroom upstairs, okay? It's not yet ready, and unsafe. I don't want to come home and find you dead in my home," he joked and left. Nathan chuckled and return his attention to Jamie who was putting together a puzzle on the floor. He heard the door open.

"Luke, I know you're worry about me, but don't you think you've gone a little too far?" Nathan said without looking up.

"What?" the person said.

Nathan looks up and sees Haley.

"Haley, what are you doing here?" he asks surprise at her visit.

"I came to see Brooke," she tells him. "Is she here?"

Nathan shook his head. "She went to the store to grab some food."

Haley looked disappointed but looked at Nathan and Jamie.

"Are you babysitting?" she asks.

He nods. "Yea, Luke is out buying some supplies for the bathroom and.."

"Oh, I want to see it," Haley cuts him off and head upstair. Nathan remembered what Lucas had told him and runs after her.

"Wait, Haley, Luke says it's not safe," Nathan yelled.

"Oh, please, Lucas just doesn't want you to see what a crummy job he's done," Haley answers back. Nathan caught up to her.

"Really, I don't think it's such a good idea," Nathan tells her.

"Come on, aren't you curious?" she asks.

She slowly opens the door to reveal a half finished bathroom. They stepped in and looked around. From the way it looked, the finishing product should be beautiful.

"Wow," Haley said under her breath.

"Yea, I didn't know Luke had it in him," Nathan replied. Haley reached for the lights when she heard a noise. She looked up and a pile of wooden planks falling down in slow motion. Her muscles went stiff on her and she couldn't move away. Her vision soon became dark after.

--------------------------------------

Nathan rushed to her and began to violently push the wood off of her. He picked up her limp body and wiped the blood away from her head.

"Haley, Haley, can you hear me?" he cried. "Hales, please answer me."

Lucas runs to where Nathan had been sitting with Jamie asleep in his arms.

"What happened?" Lucas asks panting. Nathan stared ahead avoiding Lucas's gaze.

"It's my fault. I shouldn't have let her go in the bathroom. She wanted to see your work. And then, those wooden planks fell on her," Nathan tells him, numb. He couldn't handle that he could lose Haley all over again. The doctor walked up to them. Lucas turns to face him.

"She's going to be fine. It's a miracle that she didn't sustain more serious injuries. She just has a few cuts and it's bruises. She's asleep now. If you want, you can go and see her." The doctor smiled at them and left.

-----------------------------------

Nathan opens the door to the room. He hated hospitals. They took Haley away from him and he hated that more than anything. He walked up to her bed and sat beside her. She had bandages over her head. He took her hand in his and watches her.

"I'm so sorry Hales," he whispered. Haley stirred and opens her eyes to find Nathan beside her.

"Nathan?" she asks confused. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm so sorry, Haley," Nathan tells her.

"What do you mean?" Haley asks. "What happened?"

"Some pieces of wood fell on you. I couldn't protect you. I'm so sorry." He looked at her, sadly. Haley smiles.

"It's okay. It's my fault. I should have listened to you," Haley assures him. He looks at her. "Does it hurt?" he asks.

She shakes her head.

"I was so worried," he admits to her. She laughs.

"I've don't think I've ever seen you so sad before, Nathan. Cheer up, I'm fine," she tells him.

"What if you weren't going to be okay?" he asks. Haley shuts up and looks at him.

"Then I guessed I've done myself a favor," she whispers under her breath.

"What?" Nathan asks confused. "Why do you say that?"

"Because, there's no use for a person who can't remember anything from her past. Always dreaming of my memories to return, hoping and wishing that one day I would remember and so I won't have to keep on waiting like an idiot. A person without their memory is like a person without their soul, Nathan," she tells him and looks out the window. "When people ask me about myself, I can't tell them anything, because honestly I don't know anything about myself. When I go out on dates, I don't know what to expect because I'm not sure what I should feel. When I talk to Luke or Brooke, I can see it in their eyes, that I'm hurting them. I can't remember my own friends, I disappoint them and I don't want to live this way." Nathan held her hand up to his chest.

"Haley, you know that no matter what, you are still Haley. Whether you've got your memory or not, it doesn't change the fact that you are Haley James." He placed her hand on his chest so that she can feel his heart beat.

"You really scared me. My heart won't stop beating fast because of you. Truth is, it's been this way since I saw you," he tells her softly.

"Nathan, you do not want to be with me. You don't want to know what a train wreck I am. You don't want to live with a person who can't remember anything from her past. What if I was a bad person?"

"I doubt it," he tells her smiling.

"What if my former lover comes back to claim me?" she jokes and laughs.

"Then I'll just have to fight him to the death and make sure he won't be able to take you away," he replied.

"And what if I remember? What if I remember and change my mind about you?" she said quietly.

"Then, I'm willing to take that risk," he answers. "But I want you to know, I'm not going anywhere, Haley James." He leaned in and wiped away the tears that had fallen on her face.

"Because, we're in this together," he whispers and softly kissed her. He waited so long just to feel her lips, it was amazing the he was able to keep himself contained. Once they pulled apart, Haley looked at him.

"You sure you want this?" she asks.

He nodded. "More than you'll ever know."


	12. The return of the past

Brooke screamed. With joy, of course. She hugged Haley when she found out that Haley and Nathan are together.

"Calm down, Brooke, you act as if I just told you that I'm married," Haley jokes.

"Then it would have been a louder scream," Brooked jokes.

They laughed. Brooke held Haley's hand. "I'm really happy for you, Haley. Nathan's a really good guy," she tells her.

Haley nods. "So I've noticed," she answers dreamily.

------------------------------------

At school, Nathan found himself staring at Haley while she's helping the students with their work. As soon as the bell rang and the tutoring center was clear of students, he walked over to her and pulled her over to a corner so no one could see them.

"This is a nice surprise," she says. He smirks and leans down to kiss her. She closes her eyes and kisses him back. Their lips met and soon so did their tongues. They soon parted and gazed at each other.

"Do you want to do something or just stare at me all day?" Haley jokes.

"I'm fine with this," he answers and kisses her again. Haley giggles throughout their kiss and finally escapes his grasp. Nathan watches her catch her breath and smirks.

"You look beautiful," he says and snakes his hands around her waist. Haley blushes. Nathan smiles.

"How about a date with me?" he whispers into her ears seductively. Haley grins.

"Where to?" she asks.

"Anywhere," he tells her and takes her by the hand. They walked out the schools building and into Nathan's car. It was soon dark and they finally arrived at their destination.

"Where are we?" Haley asks looking around as she got out of the car.

"My beach house. It was my parents. But I bought it from them," he tells her. He held her hands and led her inside the house. Haley gasps at the sight in front of her. The house was surrounded by candles and their path was sprinkled with rose petals. She turned to look at Nathan in amazement and grinned. She kissed his cheeks and ran off to wander around the house.

"Does that mean you like it?" he yells after her.

"Yes, Nathan Scott. I love it," she yells back. He smiles and went to turn on some music. Haley returns with a look like a child on Christmas.

"It's really beautiful," she tells him. He leans in and kisses her.

"But not as beautiful as you, Hales."

Haley kisses him back.

----------------------------------

Luke places his keys on the dinner table.

"Where did you go?" Brooke asks as she enters the room.

"Nathan asked me for a favor. He had a date with Haley and wanted some help," Luke answers as he kisses his wife.

"Um...I'm really happy for them. It's about time," Brooke says.

"Yea, I know. But I feel uncertain. As if something bad is going to happen," Luke tells her as he sat down on the chairs. Brooke sat next to him.

"I know what you mean. They have so much secrets that it's impossible to not leak them. I've having a hard time already. I don't know how Nathan handles it."

Luke chuckles. "Honey, let's face it. You suck at keeping secrets."

Brooke gasps and playfully hits her husband in the chest. Luke grabs her hands and pulls her in for a kiss.

--------------------------------

"This is really delicious," Haley comments. "Did you make it?"

Nathan nods. "I had my share of cooking when I lived on the road. After a while you just crave for home cook meals, you know." Haley looks at him.

"It's must be hard. You travel a lot and you don't have lots of time to spend with your family. I don't know how you do it," Haley says.

"I don't know either. But I know that I love to play the game, so I try to keep my focus on that," Nathan replies.

"Nathan, were we close in the past?" Haley asks changing the subject.

Nathan's muscle froze. How could he answer that?

"Well..."

Haley looks at him curiously.

"Well, I've known you for a really long time. I remember after your mom died, I made you so mad that you started to cry. So to make up for it, I had to dance. You made me dance in front of the whole 3rd grade and finally laughed at it. After that, I try not to mess with you anymore."

Haley laughs. "Really? Wow. That sounds really..." She stops when she hears thunder roar and then suddenly the lights went out. They looked around to discover the storm forming outside.

"Great," Nathan says. "The roads are probably flooded by now."

"What does that mean?" Haley asks.

"That we're stranded here until the storm calms down." More sound of thunder erupted followed by lightening.

"It doesn't seem to be calming anytime soon," Haley says.

----------------------------------

An hour went by and the storm continued on. Haley watches out the window and sighs.

"Looks like we're going to have to spend the night here, Hales," Nathan tells her from behind. Haley turns around.

"There's only one guest room upstairs. You can take it and I'll sleep down here on the sofa," He tells her. Thunder roars once again, this time more louder and makes Haley jumps into Nathan's arms. Haley looks up to see the amusement in Nathan's eyes and moves out from his embrace.

"Are you sure? I mean, I can take the sofa, if you want," Haley offers.

Nathan looks at her. "Are you kidding? Would I do that to a lady?" He leans in and kisses her.

"Alright, then. I'm going to go and..." More thunder roars. "..And go to bed." She kisses Nathan on the cheek and turns to go upstairs when Nathan grabs her wrist. Haley turns to face him.

"Why don't you sleep with me?" he asks. Haley's eye brow raises.

"Nothing will happen, I promise. Just stay by my side. Actually, I'm kinda scared," he says and blushes.

Haley didn't answer.

"I promise, I won't do anything," he tells her and raises his hand to show her.

"Ok, Scott. Remember, Scout's honor," she says and laughs.

------------------------------

Haley lies in Nathan's arms, unable to sleep. They were sleeping on the floor in the living room. She turns to her other side to find Nathan deeply asleep. She was never able to be this close to him. She raises her hand to touch his nose and his lips. They were so soft and warm. She smiles. He looks adorable. She can hear his breathing and see his chest moving. She was lost in her thoughts about him that she didn't notice him opening his eyes.

"What are you doing, sleeping beauty?" he asks, his voice husky.

Haley jerked a little from being surprised by his awakening. She nervously giggle.

"I couldn't sleep," she tells him.

"Come here," he tells her and pulls her in closer. "Are you cold?"

Haley awkwardly moved towards him. She could feel his body heat warming up their space.

"Are you cold, Hales?" he asks again.

"No..no...I'm fine," she chokes.

"Good. Tell me if you're uncomfortable," he tells her. Ha, Haley could laugh. But she was also very touched by his thoughtfulness and caring. She slowly wraps her arm around his waist and clung onto his shoulder.

"Nathan?" she whispers.

"Hmm.."

"Thank you so much," she whispers in his ears.

Nathan looks down at her.

"For what Hales?"

"For everything. I didn't know I could feel like this. You've been so amazing that it's almost unfair. I didn't do anything for you at all," she tells him.

He chuckles.

"You didn't have to. I'm doing this because I want to be with you," he tells her and kisses her forehead.

Haley smiles and looks up at him. His kisses move lower and lower until they met her lips. Their lips collide and their tongues met. Nathan's arm roams her lower back while hers held their spot on his shoulder. Haley could feel Nathan tugging at her shirt as he places kisses on her shoulder and neck. Haley moans as he reaches her weak spot. Nathan found pleasure in this and continue to kiss her. He slowly places his hand under her shirt and pulled it off Haley. Haley did the same for Nathan. Before they knew it, they were both undressed and sharing their intimate moment together. It was heaven. A familiar heaven for Nathan. He looked at Haley who was know exhausted and asleep in his arms. It felt as if nothing had changed at all. As if it was only yesterday that they were still in high school and dating. He smiled. It should be like this everyday, he thought. He kissed her nose, her cheeks and her temple, afraid that if he stopped, he may not have tomorrow to make up for it. She stirs and nuzzle into his chest. He chuckles and leans into her.

"I love you," he whispers.

--------------------------------------

They arrive at Haley's house. Haley was about to unbuckle her seatbelt when Nathan stopped her.

"Do you think I can come in?" he asked hoping for a positive answer.

"Don't you have practice today?" she asked confused.

"It's been cancelled," he told her. "And I don't have any plans for today."

A huge grin appeared on Haley's face. "Sure, as long you know how to cook," she joked.

He chuckled. "I make the best macaroni and cheese."

"Well, they are food of the gods, right?" she answered and got out of the car.

Nathan's smile disappeared. Had he heard her right? Did she just say that? He quickly got out of the car.

"What did you say?" he asked her. She stared at him in confusion.

"About the macaroni, what did you just say?" he asked her, desperately wanting to hear that she remembered.

"Oh, that macaroni is food of the gods?" she answered still confused. "I heard it from somewhere." Nathan tried to hold back his disappointment and smiled casually at her.

-------------------------------------

"Lukie!" Brooke yelled from the bottom of the staircase. Luke sighed. He hated that name. He walked down the stairs to be greeted by Brooke.

"Luke, I need you to deliver this lunch sac to Haley," she told him. "You know how she can't cook yet."

"But, it's pouring outside, sweetie," he complained.

"I don't care if it's ten below, we will not have our friend starve," she said and placed her hands on her hips.

"Besides, I'm still making lunch for Jamie too and you know how he is when he wakes up from his afternoon nap." Lucas kisses Brooke on the cheek and left to deliver the food.

---------------------------------

Lucas knocks on the door and was answered by Haley who looked like she was attacked by the refrigerator. Lucas tried to hold back his laughter and extended his hand that was holding the lunch sac. Haley gasped and jumped for it.

"Luke, you are a savior," Haley exclaimed. Nathan appeared in the doorway exposing him of the same condition that Haley is in.

"Nathan, what are you doing here? And why the hell are you guys looking like that?" Lucas asked surprised.

Haley turned to look at Nathan and laughed as she pulled out some mac and cheese of his shirt.

"Well, you see, we were hungry.." Nathan started.

"And Nathan claimed that he makes the best mac and cheese," Haley stated.

"I do. But someone got me distracted," he said eyeballing Haley, who gasps.

"But I wasn't the one who burnt the food," she finished, sticking her tongue out.

"And that's our story," Nathan mocked and grinned down at Haley who was glowing. Lucas just stood there speechless and a little nauseous.

"You okay, man?" Nathan asked when he noticed Lucas a little stiff.

Lucas nods. "You guys just...kind of make me sick," he said laughing.

"Very funny," Nathan said. "But thanks for the food."

"Yea, well, I gotta head back," Lucas said and starts to head out in the pouring rain.

"It's pouring out, wait, let me find an umbrella for you," Haley said and looks around her closet for one.

"It's fine, Hales," Lucas said and heads out. Haley found a dark blue umbrella buried under some old coats and ran after Lucas in the rain.

"Luke!" she yelled. Lucas turns around and chuckles.

"I told you, I didn't need one," he told her. She held the umbrella over their heads to shield them from the rain.

"I needed to tell you something," Haley said.

Lucas looks at her worried. "What is it?"

"Well, the thing is, yesterday, I remembered something," Haley said cautiously watching Lucas's expression.

Lucas's eyes widened and his heart raced.

"Remember what?" he asked, almost afraid to hear her answer.

"I remembered you," she told him. "I remembered coming to Tree Hill and having you here to welcome me with open arms. You didn't ask questions or judge me, you just hugged me and said you missed me. And well, I just wanted to say thanks. I don't know how or why I ended up here, but I know that you are a great friend and I am really grateful to have you and Brooke at my side."

Lucas looks at her and smiled. A smile that he hasn't shown in years to his friend. A smile that looks very familiar to Haley. A smile that the both of them understood and knew that things were getting back to the way they were.

He pulled Haley into a hug and let out a breath that he didn't know he was holding. It was good to breath again.

"I'm here for you always, Haley. No matter whether you remember me or not, I'm here. Nothing's changed," he whispers into her hair.

Haley smiled at his comment and looks up at him. He was right. Suddenly it seems as if the world was in a better place and that the sun was shining brighter, even though it was raining. But the feeling was good, and she liked it.

"Now, you better get back home. Nathan looks as if he's ready to skin me alive for keeping you out here," Lucas joked. Haley turns to see Nathan watching them from the porch. She chuckles.

"Alright. Tell Brooke I said thanks," she said and starts to walk away. As she's turning around, her vision went blurry and sudden it felt as if she was hit in the head with a brick. She saw visions of the familiar scene.

_It was pouring rain as it is now. She was crying, wishing for the pain to vanish. The air was cold and blowing against her. She looked at the man whose back was to her. She was sobbing uncontrollably, until a sharp pain struck her abdomen and caused her to fall onto the cement. She clutched onto her stomach and screamed. She looked down and saw blood rushing out of her. She remembered..._

Lucas was about to get into his car when he heard Haley scream. He quickly turned to find Haley on the ground. He dropped the umbrella and rushed to Haley's side. He kneeled beside Haley and looked at her.

"Hales, are you alright?" he asked panting.

Haley stared up at him through the rain that was falling down. She was almost too afraid to look up at Lucas. She didn't know whether it was a dream or not. It was too real. It felt too real. The pain, the shock, all of it, was just too real to be a dream.

"Haley, are you okay?" Lucas asked one more time.

"Lucas," she said shakily. "Lucas, was I pregnant before?" Lucas looks at her stunned. How did she know? Did she remember?

"And...and...did I lose it? Did I...Did I lose the baby?" she asked now, crying, and still on the ground. Lucas didn't know how to answer her. Tell his own friend that she lost the baby, and making her go through the grieving process twice? Who could be that heartless? He looked up to search for words, but instead, he found Nathan stunned, shocked, and speechless at the two of them. He stood a couple of feet behind Haley and his eyes were concentrated on Lucas, waiting for his answer. It seemed as if they were stuck in some twilight zone. No one spoke. Lucas held onto Haley and desperately hoped that it was some kind of dream. But his thoughts were interrupted.

"Luke?" Haley pleaded, wanting to find her answer.

Lucas turned his attention to her. He nodded sadly.

"Yea, you were, Hales. You were pregnant, but you lost him," he said, his voice cracking. Haley's heart ripped into pieces at his answer and sobbed into Lucas's shoulder. Nathan stood there drenched in the rain, numbed, too stunned to move an inch. It was all too much for him to absorb in. How could he not have known? Was it his? What happened? Too many unanswered questions that plagued his mind. But more importantly, how did Haley cope with her loss? His precious Haley, who was pure and innocent, did she grieve alone? Did she have someone to go to? Was she suffering alone? Was it because of him. He couldn't do anything except watch his brother comfort his girlfriend.


	13. Something you didn't know

Hey thanks so much for the reviews and comments. Alot of you asked if the baby was Nathan's and it was. I wrote that in chapter 4 "Talking about the past" Anyways, I hope you guys like the next couple of chapters. It may seem kinda rushed or something, but I was going for dramatic. So hope you guys enjoy.

"How is she?" Lucas asked getting up from his chair in the living room.

Nathan looked down at the floor. "She's asleep, now."

"Nate.."

"Luke.."

Lucas sighed. "I'm sorry, I didn't tell you. It was so long ago. And when it happened, it...it just, was too much. I found her lying on the ground a couple of feet away from your house and she was bleeding. She was laying there in a puddle of blood. When I took her to the hospital, they told me she lost the baby. I didn't even know she was pregnant," Lucas told Nathan, who was listening but not looking at Lucas. Lucas watched the silent Nathan. He waited for Nathan to say something but Nathan didn't even look at Lucas. "Nate, it's just when I found out, she told me it was over between you guys?"

"When was this?" Nathan asked quietly.

"The day of after Dan's funeral. When she woke up from the hospital, she told me that things between you guys were over. She never said anything more," Lucas told him sadly. He sighed. "I never meant to keep it from you. It's just, right after she lost the baby, she left, which shocked me more and I had forgotten all about it until today."

Nathan lifted his head and sighed in distress. He remembered that day. The day, she found him guilty of cheating on her. The day they broke it off. The day when they thought love wasn't enough. The day, he had wronged her and now, it was also the day they lost their child. Tears fell down Nathan's cheeks. Lucas pulled him into a hug.

"Do you think I'm a horrible person for this? I mean, I think it was because of me that she lost the baby," Nathan told Lucas. Lucas pulled away and looked at Nathan, confused.

"That day, Haley found me with another girl. That's when we broke it off. I'm the one to be blamed for it. I made Haley lose the baby," Nathan said, feeling lower than anything before.

Lucas shook his head. "Nathan, don't blame yourself for this. It wasn't anybody's fault, okay?"

Tears continue to roll down Nathan's cheeks. "I wasn't even there for her. She must have been in so much pain. She must have been so sad. I should have been there, Luke."

"Nathan, you didn't even know that Haley was pregnant, okay? You didn't even know that the baby was yours.."

"What?" a voice echoed through the house. The two brothers turned their faces around to find Haley standing by the staircase. She quickly walked over to them. She turned to Lucas.

"What do you mean that he didn't even know the baby was his?" Haley asked confused and a little angry that they were hiding it from her.

"Hales, what are you doing getting up. You should still be in bed," Lucas said as he placed a hand on her shoulder. She softly yanked his hand off and looked at Lucas.

"No, I want to know the truth. Nathan was the baby's father? But..." she turned to look at Nathan. He lowered his eyes and was silent.

"I thought we weren't barely friends back then. I thought...You lied to me?" she asked in disbelief. She was about to walk away when Nathan grabbed her arm and turned her around.

"Hales, wait," Nathan pleaded. "I didn't mean to lie to you."

"But you did," Haley snapped. "I don't understand. What were we back then?"

Nathan looked at Luke for support, but he just backed off and let Nathan know that the show was all his. Nathan sighed.

"I lied. We were more than friends. But we broke up and you left Tree Hill. Then you came back and we found out that you have a brain tumor. We were together again and you finally agreed to the surgery, and went through with it. But then you lost your memory.." Nathan stopped before he went on any further and looked at Haley for her reaction. She had a blank expression and stared at him in. She then looked at Lucas.

"And you knew?" she asked almost whispering. Lucas struggled to answer.

"I made him lie to you," Nathan defended. "I told him not to tell you anything about us because you hated me. If you found out about us I thought that you might want to stay away from me. That you might be distant and scared. I wouldn't want to do anything to hurt you, Haley."

Haley scoffed. "Really? Nathan, you just lied to me. You looked me in the eyes and lied to me so many times."

"Because I had to!" Nathan exclaimed trying to get Haley to understand. "When you woke up that day, you had that look on your face where you couldn't even stand to look at me. If I told you that I was your fiancé, would you have believed it?"

Haley stared at him, eyes widened. "What?" she asked barely above a whisper.

Nathan looked at her in the eyes. "The day before you went into surgery, I asked you to marry me. And you said yes."

Haley thought back. The ring. She looked as if a light bulb went off in her head.

"The ring.."

"It was the ring I gave to you when I proposed," Nathan told her softly. "It was the happiest day in my life, Haley." He stepped towards Haley. Haley took a couple of steps back which surprised Nathan.

"So when I asked you to help me find the person who gave me the ring, you knew all along?" she asked still confused and angry.

"But Haley.."

"No, I can't take it anymore. I want to be alone," Haley said looking at Nathan.

"Haley..." Lucas protested.

"No! I want to be alone, okay? I can't take this anymore," she said. Lucas and Nathan reluctantly left.

-------------------------------------------

Haley found herself once again at the pond where she threw her ring away. Who knew that the ring had represented the past and the present. She stared out at the ripples that were created. She felt so betrayed. She had never felt anything like this before. Her conscious debated whether or not to forgive Nathan. After all, he did do it out of good intentions. And he did stick around even when she was unreasonable and it must have been hard on him too. But still, he lied. He looked her straight in the eye and lied. And their baby, what happened? What happened on that day?

-------------------------------------------------

Nathan, Lucas and Brooke all sat in the living room of Lucas's home. They were all silent and thinking. Nathan was the first to break the silence.

"I'm sorry, I got you guys into this mess," he apologized to them. Brooke looked up at him.

"Nathan, you don't have to apologize. We would have done anything to help you guys," she told him.

Lucas nods. "Yea. There's nothing to be sorry about. We should just think about Haley. I think she recovering her memory ."

Nathan looked at him. "No, you think so?" he said sarcastically.

Lucas looked at him. "Shut up. I mean, she's recovering a lot now. Just before she collapsed, she told me that she remembered me and when she came to Tree Hill."

"She told you that?" Brooke asked.

Lucas nods.

"So do you think she'll be able to remember everything now?" Nathan asked, a little hopeful.

"I'm not sure." They were interrupted when the phone rang. Brooke stood up to grab it. After talking on it, she handed it to Nathan.

"Is this Nathan Scott?" the voice asked.

"Yes it is," he answered.

"I'm calling from New York City General Hospital. Your mother, Deb had a heart attack and we're calling to inform you that she needs surgery. We need your consent." Nathan was crushed. His mother, his only family besides Lucas. After he hung up, he looked at Brooke and Lucas.

"I need to find Haley," he said and walked away.


	14. Searching for you

Haley was no where to be found. He banged on the door so many times the neighbors threatened to call the police, he went to the docks, the rivercourt, the school, but no traces of her. He finally met up with Lucas back at the river court.

"I can't find her," Nathan told him worried.

"I don't know where else she might be," Lucas told him.

"I have to go to New York. My mom had a heart attack," Nathan told Lucas.

"Oh my gosh, is she going to be alright?" Lucas asked worried.

"She needs surgery," Nathan answered. "I have to leave tonight. I want to talk to Haley before I go, but she's nowhere in sight."

"I'm sure she'll understand, Nate," Lucas assured him.

------------------------------------------

Haley stared at the pond for hours now, debating whether or not to retrieve the ring back. She turned her back against the pond and sighed. It was now getting dark. She took a deep breath and turned around swiftly and dived into the pond. She began searching for the ring. Her heart was beating so fast, it felt as if it would burst out of her chest and run away. She had to find it. No matter what, she not giving up on Nathan. Not when he never gave up on her. Nathan is her past, present, and future. She just had to find it.

------------------------

Nathan loaded his duffel bag into the car and turned to say goodbye to Lucas and Brooke.

"Thanks for everything, you guys. I might not be able to come back for a while. I figure that I might be staying with my mom for a while longer so she can recover and then soon after, it's basketball season. Thank you guys again," Nathan said and smiled at them. Lucas was holding Jamie in his arms and grinned at Nathan.

"Don't worry about Haley, we'll talk to her for you," he told Nathan.

"Thanks," Nathan said. Brooke enveloped Nathan in a hug.

"Take care of your mother. We'll take care of Haley until you come back," she told him. "You guys have been through so much, you really deserve each other."

He smiled at her. "Well, I better get going. But before I do, I have a letter here for Haley. When you see her, could you give it to her?"

Lucas took it and nods.

Nathan got in the car and waved at them.

"Bye unca Nathan," Jamie waved.

Nathan waved and drove off.

-------------------------

Lucas answered the knock at his door and was greeted by Haley who was still a little wet from her earlier encounter.

"Hales, where have you been?" he asked.

"I need to talk to Nathan," she told him. Lucas looked down at the ground, afraid to tell his friend of the news.

"Where is he? I really need to talk to him," she told him.

"Hales, he left," Lucas tells her. She stared at him, confused.

"I don't understand...I.. He was here earlier. How can he just leave?" she asked in shock.

"He found out that his mother had a heart attack. He's has to go sign some papers for her surgery. He looked all over for you, but he couldn't find you. He left you this," Lucas said and hands her the envelope.

Haley stares at it.

Lucas could tell that she was disappointed and hurt.

"He really wanted to see you before he left, Hales.."

"Where is he going?" Haley interrupted him.

"To New York City...why?" before he got an answer, Haley took off running. She quickly got to her house and popped into her car. She was soon on the road and probably broke a thousand speed limits before reaching the airport. She quickly parked her car and ran inside. Not knowing exactly what to do, she searched for Nathan's face. She didn't know what she was doing, but she needed to see Nathan one last time. She needed to tell him that she loved him.

-----------------------------

Nathan reached into his pockets and pulled out his cell phone. He dialed Haley's home phone and once again, no one picked up. He decided to try Luke.

"Hello?" Luke answered.

"Luke, it's me, Nate. Have you found Haley?" he asked nervously.

"As a matter of fact, she came here. She came here looking for you," Luke told him.

"She did?" He felt a little hopeful. "Where is she?"

"Actually, I don't know. She asked me where you were headed and suddenly..."

---------

"Nathan!" Haley spotted Nathan over by the gate talking on his phone. She ran towards him and shouted his name.

"Nathan!"

Nathan turned around to discover Haley standing there staring at him. He hung up on Lucas and ran over to her. A huge grin appeared on her face. He stopped short of her and was in shock to find her standing there.

"Haley, what are you doing?" he finally said to break the silence.

"I couldn't let you leave without–"

"Without what?" Nathan asked confused.

Haley took a deep breath an closed her eyes as she pulled Nathan into a kiss. Her hands roamed through his hair as Nathan managed to drop his duffel bag and grasp her waist. They finally pulled apart breathless and a little surprised at each other.

Haley looked at him and smiled.

"Nathan, I just want you to know that I...I can't explain what I feel for you, because...well...I've never felt this way before, well, I probably did, and it probably was with you too, but I wouldn't be able to remember," she rambled on but she quickly caught herself and continued on, "but my point is that I really like you, maybe even love you. I can't stop thinking about you. No matter what, even when you made me really mad, I end up thinking about you. I don't know what we had last time, but what I know is that I want you. I need you. I'm sorry if I hurt you. I'm sorry that I can't remember you. Believe me, I would do anything to fix this, I would. But I can't. All I want from you is your patience. I can't guarantee that I'll remember. I can't make promises that won't break your heart, but I'm sure as hell willing to give us a try as long you're with me. So I want you to know that when you come back, I'll be here." She took in a deep breath and relaxed. She had let out everything that she wanted him to know. Now everything was out there in the open. She waited for Nathan's reaction anxiously not entirely sure what to expect. She herself, didn't know what she wanted him to say after her whole revelation. She searched Nathan's face for a clue and finally felt a little relieved to see a grin form on his face.

"Why don't you come with me?" he asked.

Her eyes widened a little bit at his question. She didn't expect that.


	15. Old friends and foe

Hey guys. Sorry it kinda took a while for me to update. I kinda had really bad writer's block and I was debating whether or not Haley should go with Nathan. Anyways, you'll see the outcome in this chapter...Oh, plus this story is sorta coming to an end so be prepare for some major drama and heartache...muahahah...enjoy!

---------------------------------

"Nathan–"

"I love you Haley. I want to be with you too. So why don't you come with me to see my mom?" Nathan asked looking into her eyes.

"Nathan, that's really sweet of you–"

"Come on Hales. My mom would really like to see you again. And I don't think I can go through this alone. I need you," he pleaded.

She smiled at him.

"So what do you say?" Nathan asked tugging at her hand.

"Nathan, I would love to go with you," Haley said happily.

------------------------------------

"Mr. Scott, your mother is awake," a nurse told Nathan who had been reading a magazine. It had been two days now since they left Tree Hill. Deb had gone through with the surgery and in the mean time, Haley and Nathan had spent their time shopping and admiring the city. They were now back in the hospital in case Deb had waken up . Haley stood up with him and smiled at him. He took her hand into his and together they walked into Deb's room. Nathan pushed open the doors and found his mother awake and smiling at the presence of them. She looked at Nathan and then at Haley. Nathan quickly ran to her and kissed her cheeks.

"Mom, I'm so glad you're okay," he whispered to her. She patted his face and grinned.

"Me too. Thanks for coming," she said.

"Of course. I was so worried," he told her. He sat down next to her on the chair beside the bed.

"I'm sorry. I guess, I was just taking on too much work and it took a toll on me," she said and shrugged her shoulders. Nathan noticed that his mother had lost weight and had bags under her eyes. She had started working heavily after his father had died trying to replace the emptiness that he had left in her heart. Nathan sighed and turned to look at Haley. He motioned for her to come closer. She did and stood by Nathan.

"It's nice to see you've made it through, Mrs. Scott," Haley said politely.

"Thanks, Haley. It's nice to you doing well too," Deb answered. She turned to look at her son for some sort of explanation. Nathan caught her look and cleared his throat.

"Mom, there's something we want to tell you," he said and looked up at Haley who was smiling at him. "Haley and I are together now," he said beaming with joy.

Deb gasped. "Well it's about time," she said and pulled Haley into a hug.

"You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this to happen. What took so long?"

Haley laughed. "It's partially my fault," she answered.

""Well, I'm just glad you kids finally realized that you are meant to be together. I mean, you knew each other since grade school and practically grew up together. I'm so happy for you," she said.

"Thanks," Haley said and looked back at Nathan. She was the happiest woman alive.

------------------------------------------------------------

Nathan closed the door behind him. His mother was fast asleep and exhausted. Haley and him tiptoed out of the room hoping to get some time for themselves. Nathan returned his gaze at his girlfriend and took her hand into his. They began to walk down the hall when someone called out his name. He turned around to find a certain tall brunette woman standing there in disbelief. Nathan was in shock himself. Haley just back and forth between Nathan and the lady. They obviously knew each other.

"Nathan, I can't believe it. What are you doing in New York?" the lady asked walking up to them.

"We're here visiting my mom. She had a heart attack," he told her surprised that the words had made it out of his mouth. He was still too shock.

"Oh my gosh, is she okay?" she asked.

Nathan nodded. "She is. You can go in and visit her if you like. But she's asleep now." Jen nodded understanding. Her gaze fell upon Nathan and Haley's joined hands. Nathan looked at Haley and then at the woman standing before them. Haley was obviously lost as to figure out who she was.

"Haley, this is Jen," Nathan said introducing them. "Jen, you remember Haley?"

Jen nodded. Of course she remembered. Jen smiled at her.

"How are you doing, Haley?" Jen asked politely.

"Fine, thanks," Haley replied.

"Anyway, what are you doing here?" Nathan asked changing the subject.

"Oh, well, I'm here visiting one of my friend. She works here and we just returned back from lunch," Jen said not taking her eyes off of Haley. Something was going on, she thought. Haley didn't even seem to worry or have any guilt about seeing Jen again. She must feel something, but to her, Haley has a blank expression.

"Well, it's nice seeing you again. But we have to go, we're hungry ourselves," Nathan explained.

"Oh, sorry, didn't mean to hold you up. I'll see you guys around," she said as they waved good bye to them.

Once they were outside the hospital Haley turned to looked at Nathan.

"Who is she?" Haley asked.

"Just an old friend," Nathan answered. Haley looked at him still, not buying what he had just told her. He looked down at her and sighed. "It's a long story. I'll tell you about it when we get back to the hotel, okay?" he assured her.

She nodded.

----------------------------------------------------

"So she really isn't just an old friend? She's an old girlfriend and ex fiancé?" Haley asked shocked at what Nathan had just told him. Nathan quickly reached for her hand to comfort her and assure her that there's nothing there between them.

"Haley, come on, we've been through this, please don't make such a big deal out of this. She in the past. You're my present and future," he told her. She sighed. Gosh, losing her memory really sucked.

"Are you sure?" she asked softly looking at him.

He laughed not believing she had just asked him that. He tighten his grasp on her hands.

"Of course I'm sure. Hales, you're the one I want to be with, okay? You don't ever have to question my feelings for you," he answered her and kissed her.

"Do you believe me now?" he asked once they pulled apart breathless and panting.

She nodded and smiled at him. Nathan leaned in once more to kiss her when there was a knock at their door. Nathan sighed. Why can't they be left alone for a moment, hell, five minutes would make him a happy man, he thought. He walked over to the door and opened it.

"Jake!" he exclaimed. Haley peered over at them to find a tall brown haired man standing next to Nathan.

"What a surprise! What are you doing here?" Nathan asked him.

"I heard that you were in town," he answered. "Figure I'd come over and see what you were up to. You know it's not easy trying to persuade the front desk people that I actually know the Nathan Scott." They laughed and walked over to were Haley was sitting. She stood up and smiled at the man.

"Haley?" the guy asked Nathan. Nathan nodded and smiled.

"Yep, this is Haley," he answered.

"Haley, this is Jake. He's an old friend, used to play for the Lakers but was traded to the Knicks," Nathan said.

"It's nice to finally meet you Haley. I've heard lots of things about you," Jake said and extended his hand to her. She shook it and smiled.

"Nice to meet you too," she said.

"He's a hand full, let me warn you," he said nodding at Nathan. Nathan gave him a death glare. Jake laughed at this sight. "But he's crazy about you," he finished.

Haley chuckled. "Well, don't worry, I've got him under control."

Jake laughed. "Sounds like someone's whipped," he said under his breath.

"What? No way!" Nathan yelled.

"Excuse me?" Haley asked crossing her arm. Nathan looked at her and smiled.

"I mean...I love you," he said and kissed her on the cheeks. Jake laughed even harder.

-------------------------------------

"So why don't you guys come down to the club tomorrow night?" Jake asked. "I mean, Peyton has the hottest live entertainment lined up. It would be great if you guys came."

"Peyton?" Haley asked confused.

"Yea," Jake answered and held up his hand to show her his wedding band. "My wife of two years. Drives me mad all the time, but I still love her." Jake smiled at his ring before returning his attention to them. "Hey," he said suddenly. "Nathan says you're a great singer, why don't you sing at the club. I mean, Peyton could definitely use some help."

Haley shook her head immediately not agreeing with him.

"Are you kidding me? I can't sing if the world depended on me," she said.

"Come one Hales, don't be modest. I know you can sing. I've heard it and it's really something," Nathan encouraged her.

"I don't know. I mean, I have major stage fright," she continued.

"Well, don't worry about it. I was just suggesting," Jake said. He looked at his watch and noticed the time.

"I've been here long enough. I have to head back. So we're on for tomorrow night?" he asked standing up. Nathan and Haley followed pursuit.

"Yea, we'll see you there," Nathan answered.


	16. A moment's thought

Nathan and Haley were about to walk into Deb's room when they saw Jen walked out from the door. Jen saw them and smiled as she walked towards them.

"Hi, I hope you don't mind. I wanted to see how your mother was doing," Jen explained.

Nathan looked at her and smiled. "Not at all. She did like you." Jen smiled and looked at Haley. Haley smiled back at her trying not to let Jen have and effect on her.

"Well, I hope you guys have a good day. I'll see you around," she said and left.

Once they got inside, they notice Deb reading the newspaper and Nathan immediately grabbed it from her.

"Mom, the doctor says you need to rest. That means, no work for another month or so," Nathan instructed her. Deb scowled at him.

"Nathan, what am I going to do for a month without work?" she asked.

"I don't know, relax?" Nathan said sarcastically and sat down.

"Nathan!" Haley hissed. Nathan looked at her and shrugged his shoulders.

"It's alright, Haley, I'm used to his childish ways by now," Deb said looking at Nathan.

"Here, we brought you some soup. I know that the food here doesn't exactly earn a five star rating," Haley said as she placed a paper bag on the tray beside Deb's bed.

"Thanks sweetheart, but I already ate. Jen brought some delicious apple pie and chicken noodle soup. Maybe later?" she told Haley. Haley tried to hide her disappointment and nodded.

"Sure. I'll put them over here in case you get hungry. You can microwave them," Haley said and set them down on the table nearby.

"Mom, are you going to be alright by yourself tonight? Haley and I are going to be out with some friends," Nathan told her.

"Of course I'll be fine, Nate. I've been doing fine for 7 years now," she told him.

"Alright, but I told the nurses check up on you, make sure you're not working," Nathan said.

"Nathan, I will assure you that I won't be working," Deb said.

"I also told them to hide the newspaper and take away your laptop," Nathan continued.

"What?!"

---------------------------------------------

Nathan and Haley reached the club right on time as Jake had told them. They found him standing by a blonde haired lady. He waved to them as they walked to them.

"Crazy place you got here," Nathan said.

"Thanks," Peyton answered.

"Peyton, this is Haley, Haley this is my wife, Peyton," Jake introduced them.

"Hi," they said.

"Hey, some of the guys are over there. They're talking about the upcoming season. I hear that the Spurs are going to go all the way," Jake said pointing to a group of tall buff guys.

"Yea right, not if I have anything to say about it," Nathan answered. He gave a quick kiss to Haley before leaving with Jake.

Peyton turns to Haley.

"So I hear you're a singer?" she asked.

Haley scoffs and laughs.

---------------------------------

Nathan was talking to the guys when he felt a hand tap him on the shoulder. He turned around to find Jen standing there smiling at him.

"Hey Jen. Small world, what are you doing here?" he asked.

"Just having a night out," she answered. "Wanna have a drink?" she asked.

"This is awesome," Haley exclaimed as they walked backstage.

"I know, it's really something," Peyton told her. "This is my dream. My baby."

"It must be a great feeling," Haley told her.

"It is." They walked past some band members and crews before stopping at the snack table.

"So I heard that you lost your memory or something," Peyton said sipping from her cup. Haley nodded.

"Yea, story of my life, and I don't even know it myself," she said. Peyton laughed with her.

"Must be really something. Are you going to be able to recover it?" Peyton asked.

"Eventually," Haley answered.

"Well, if it helps, some memories are better off forgotten," Peyton told her. "I would really like to forget some things. Like my mother's death, for instance."

Haley looked at her. Peyton for once today, didn't look like the confident strong woman she had just met moments ago. Instead she saw a weak girl trying to find her own answers in life.

"I know what you mean. I lost my mother when I was young too. She had a brain tumor too," Haley said empathizing with Peyton.

Peyton smiled at her. "It's hard isn't it?"

"Well, I don't remember much, but I just know that she loved me and my dad a lot," Haley answered. "And that's enough for me. It was just her time, you know?"

Peyton nodded. She didn't know why, but she hugged Haley. Haley was taken back. She was surprised by her action but hugged Peyton back too.

-----------------------------------------

Nathan gulped down the liquor that was in his glass and looked at Jen who was watching him.

"What?" he asked. The beer was suddenly getting to him.

"I don't know. You tell me," Jen said.

"I don't know what you mean," Nathan said shrugging his shoulders.

"Come on, Nathan. Something's bothering you," she told him. "You can tell me."

Nathan rolled his eyes. "There's nothing going on."

Jen smiles. "Maybe that's your problem. You're bored."

"Shut it. You don't know anything. I love Haley," he said.

"I didn't say that you didn't. I'm saying that you probably need some excitement," she said and moved closer to him. "And maybe I'm the one to help," she whispered in his ears.

Nathan pulled back.

"Jen, listen, I'm with Haley. I love her. I always have and always will. I'm sorry about our engagement. I never meant to hurt you. But Haley, has always been a part of me and I don't want to hurt her," he told her sincerely. Jen walked towards him with anger in her eyes.

"Are you saying that what we had meant nothing? We were together for two years. Two great years! And now you say that Haley has always been the one for you?" she asked on the verge of tears.

"Jen-"

"I don't know how you can be so cruel. I loved you with all my heart. And just like that, you say you never loved me," she said softly.

"I'm sorry," he said lowering his head. Jen walked away swiftly, hurt and angry and lost. Nathan watched as she did, a part of him wishing that he should go after her, but he knew it would make things worse. What was he doing? He caught himself thinking about another woman, when he knew deep inside his heart that all he needed was Haley. He shook his thoughts away. But he knew that things were not the same as before with Haley. He knew that, and it pierced his heart thinking this. He loves Haley, no doubt but a small part of him wished that Haley's memories would come back just so he knows that she's still there, still the same as when he had fallen in love with her. His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a familiar voice throughout the club. He turned his attention to the stage and saw Haley standing there, singing. The audience were cheering her on. He smiled. He knew that she loved performing. She loved to sing, and just the sight of her standing there, made all his previous thoughts vanish.


	17. Without you

Hi! Another update. I kinda couldn't stop myself from writing when I suddenly realize where I shoud go from here. So be prepare for a big shock!..thanks...and enjoy!

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Haley ran off the stage after her song, her heart beating rapidly, but in a good way. She never felt so much excitement in her life before. Just hearing the loud music pumping and seeing the crowd cheer her on, made her feel so good.

"Haley, that was awesome!" Peyton complimented and hugged her.

"Thanks, I didn't think it would feel that great," Haley said still trying to gain some composure. She was beaming with excitement.

"Here," Peyton said and placed her hand over Haley's. Haley looked at it, a waddle of cash bounded together laying in her palms.

"What are you doing? Peyton, I don't need this, really," Haley said modestly pushing her hand towards Peyton.

"Haley, I pay all my performers. And tonight, you did a really great job," Peyton told her. "Really, you have to take it."

Haley looked at her stunned.

"Haley, it's a compliment. Really, you were great. In fact, if you're available, I'd like to book you for tomorrow night as well," Peyton said waiting for her response.

"Of course she'll do it," Nathan said walking from behind Haley. Haley turned around and smiled at him. He stopped beside her and kissed her temple.

"You were great," he said softly.

"Thanks," Haley said.

"You have to do it again, you know," he said chuckling.

"But–"

"No buts. You were great, I know you like performing Hales, so no excuses. I want you to have fun," Nathan said. Haley sighed in defeat, but she was happy. She did like to perform.

"Alright, if you say so," she joked and looked at Peyton. "I'll do it." Peyton squealed and hugged her once more.

"It's going to awesome," Peyton told her. "I don't know how no one ever discovered you."

"Well, that's because she's kinda been in a coma for a couple of years, Pey," Nathan joked. Haley slapped his chest playfully and laughed.

-----------------------------------------

Jen sat in her hotel room staring an old picture of her and Nathan. They were smiling and laughing. How could he say that all that was fake, when it felt so real to her. She never admitted it, but she was lonely. All she wanted was for someone to truly love her. She thought she had found that in Nathan. But when Nathan had left her that day, her world came crumbling down. Sure, she was seeing other men, but it was just for sex or for something else that was ease the striking pain in her heart. She wiped that tears that had fallen onto the photo and focused her gaze on the bottle of medicine in front of her.

Nathan had been at the hospital keeping her mother company since Haley was at the club with Peyton rehearsing for tonight. His mother finally went to sleep, so he decided to step out and make a phone call to Haley and see how she was doing. He closed the door softly behind him and walked into the lobby. He stopped in his track when he saw a group of doctors and nurses rushing by. They were furiously pushing a bed along with them. What he saw, made his heart stop for a moment, when he realized who it was. He don't know why or what he thought was going to happen, but he found himself following them. He stopped when he saw them go behind restricted doors. He waited, hoping someone would soon tell him what was going on. A million thoughts ran through his mind, all of which guilt plagued him the most. He knew that somehow he was the cause of all this. He knew that Jen had always been lonely. Everyone always just assumed that with a pretty face like her, she'd have friends that came with it. They'd think that she was superficial and too extraordinary to consider her a human being. But she was just like the rest of us, flawed, and facing our own inner demons. He looked up to find a doctor walking towards him. He stood up on his feet immediately and went to the doctor.

"Are you with Jen Proctor?" he asked. Nathan nodded silent cursing himself for going this far.

"She overdosed on some medication. We were able to pump them out of her system. There weren't any serious damages so she'll be fine. She's just sleeping it off for now," the doctor told him. Nathan nodded and waited until the doctor left. Nathan walked over to Jen's room and stood outside debating whether or not to go inside. He reached for the doorknob when his cell phone went off. He looked at it. It was Haley.

"Haley?" he answered pinning the phone against his ear. He had never felt more guilty in his life. He loved Haley so much, but Jen is hurting because of him.

"Hey, you," she said into the phone. "I was just calling to see how you're doing, How's your mom?"

"She's fine. She's asleep now," he answered dully. "The doctor says she's showing progress and it looks like she'll be released earlier than we thought."

"Nate, that's great," she said excitedly.

"Yea, I know," he said. "Listen I gotta go. I'll call you later, okay?"

"Sure, I love you," she said.

"I love you too," he said softly before hanging up. He sighed as he put his phone away. He knew it was wrong, but he had to make sure Jen was alright. Before he met Haley, he would have been fine with just walking out of there, but then he met Haley. He became a different person. A person with emotions and a conscious. And he needed to fix the situation with Jen, because he knew that if anything happened, he wouldn't be able to just leave her. Whether he liked it or not, for those two years, there were little specks of happiness that flowed inside of him when he was with Jen. There were moments when she made him forget about Haley, but just for a brief moment. Soon he found himself inside her room. He made his way over to her slowly and sat down on the chair that was beside the bed. She must have heard him come in because she stirred and opened her eyes to find Nathan.

"Nathan?" she asked softly. She opened her eyes wider and realized where she was at and what had happened. She closed them, having tears leak out from underneath.

"Jen," Nathan said softly.

"You shouldn't be here. You're making things worse," she told him with her eyes still closed.

"Why are you doing this?" he asked moving in closer to her.

"Why shouldn't I? I have nothing else to live for," she told sadly. "I miss you."

"Jen–"

"You should go back to Haley," she told him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean for this to happen," he told her honestly. It was the truth. He never meant to hurt her, he only wanted to forget about Haley during that period of his life. He never thought he'd leave such an impact on her. He wasn't such a great boyfriend to her and never thought that she'd actually think of him otherwise.

Nathan's phone went off again. He looked at it. It was Jake. He turned it off and placed it on the table near him. He didn't want to be disturbed. He wanted Jen to forgive him so that he can move on peacefully with Haley. He didn't want to see Jen end up this way because of him.

"Nathan, did you ever love me?" she asked opening her eyes and seeking his for an answer. Her heart pounded anxiously waiting for an answer, hopefully, she thought, for the answer that she wanted.

Nathan gulped. "I did, but a part of me was always with Haley."

Jen closed her eyes again in despair. By now, she hated that name. She hated that Haley had everything she didn't.

"I want you to get out," Jen said sternly.

"Jen–"

"Please," she added fiercely.

Nathan stood up and walked over to the door. He turned back at her.

"When I was with you, I was a mess. I didn't expect for you to love me or care for me. I'm sorry for what I did to you. You have a reason to be mad at me, but please don't do this to yourself," he said and left. Jen waited until the door shut closed before sobbing into her pillow.


	18. Knowing the truth

Nathan walked into his hotel room to find Haley watching t.v. He walked over to her and kissed her cheeks. She turned and smiled at him.

"Hey you," he said. "I missed you." He placed a small kiss on her lips.

"I missed you too," she replied. "Where were you? Jake said that he called your phone but you didn't pick up. After that I called too, but your phone was turned off," Haley said getting off the couch. Nathan straightened himself up and placed his hands around her tiny waist.

"I probably turned it off because I had to go talk to one of my mom's doctor," he told her and kissed her softly.

"Really?" she asked and returned his kiss. "Is that all you did today without me?"

He nodded. "Of course, what else would I do?" he asked looking down at her.

"Oh, I don't know. I heard lots of story about you from Peyton. Apparently, you hooked up with half of the women population in New York."

Nathan chuckled. "Oh my. Is that what she told you?"

Haley nodded.

"She's exaggerating. Besides, you've got nothing to worry about. No one else holds a candle to you." He leaned in and kissed her neck softly making her moan.

"Why don't you prove it, in the bedroom?" she asked raising one of her eyebrows.

"Why? I can show it to you here," he replied huskily and fell back on the couch dragging her along with him.

-------------------------------------------------

The club was already packed when Nathan and Haley arrived. Haley split with Nathan to find Peyton and get ready for her performance. She found her backstage talking to one of the crewman. Peyton turned to see her and smiled. She quickly made her way to Haley.

"So, how are you feeling, superstar?" she asked.

"A little nervous," Haley admitted.

"Don't worry about it, it's only a couple thousand of people," Peyton said and grinned at her. Haley looked at her and scoffs.

"Gee, thanks," she replied and laughed. Haley stopped when she noticed Jen walking up to them.

"Hi, Haley," Jen greeted her.

"Hi," she answered awkwardly.

"I heard you were performing tonight," Jen said and looked around. "Have you seen Nathan?"

Haley looked at her like she was crazy asking about another girl's boyfriend.

"Why?" she asked crossing her arms against her chest.

"Well, he forgot his cellphone when he left earlier today," Jen said taking it out from her purse. She hands it to Haley. Haley took it cautiously and looked at it. It was Nathan's alright. She looked at Jen for an answer as to why she has it.

"I kinda was sick, so he came to see how I was doing and left it," Jen explained smililng the whole time. "He was really sweet worrying about me," she added.

Haley plastered on a fake smile. "Well, it looks like you're doing fine now."

Jen nodded ignoring her tone. "I am. Tell Nathan thanks for me, will you? Well, I better get going." She waved goodbye and left.

"Who's the bitch?" Peyton asked once Jen was out of sight. Haley was in shock. She looked at the phone in her hand. Nathan had lied to her. He was with Jen and lied about it. She couldn't ignore the sharp pain that was striking her chest. She felt as though she had been slapped and taken down.

"Haley?" Peyton asked looking at her.

"What? Oh, um... no one," Haley answered and walked away.

-------------------------------------------------

"Did you have fun tonight?" Nathan asked once they were inside their hotel room. Haley took off her jacket with Nathan's cell phone tucked safely inside her pocket. She hanged it up in the closet and turned to him.

"It was fine," she answered not particularly fond of what had just happened.

"Well, I'm going to hope in the shower. Care to join me?" he asked with a mischievous grin.

"Ah, Nate, sweetie. Where's your phone?" Haley asked trying to be casual about it. Please just tell me the truth, she pleaded to herself.

Nathan touched his pockets and searched them. He looked up at Haley.

"Funny, I must have forgotten to bring it with me," he said.

"Ah, well, I was looking for my earrings tonight, and I didn't find your cell phone lying around here anywhere," she told him. "Do you think you left it at the hospital? Maybe somewhere?" she hinted.

He snapped his fingers. "Oh, yea, I probably left it in mom's room. I probably forgot it when I went to buy her some lunch." Haley sighed. It was no use. She put on a weak smile and turned around with her back to him.

"So you wanna join me?" he asked.

She shook her head. "No, maybe next time. I'm not feeling so good," she told him. He looked at her worried.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

She nodded. "Yea, I probably just got too excited today. It's nothing."

He nodded and left her alone. Haley held onto the couch for support as she tried her best to stop the tears that were flowing out of her. She didn't want to feel this way, insecure, betrayed, and hurt. She had hoped that Nathan would just tell her and then everything would be fine. But he didn't.

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sorry it's kinda a short chappie...I'll have more juicy chapters later, I promise!


	19. You Knew

Jen slowly tiptoed into the halls of her hospital room but unfortunately was tapped on the shoulders by a very irritated nurse.

"Where have you been Ms. Proctor? And where is Paige, the nurse who was suppose to keep an eye on you?" the older nurse asked crossing her arms over her chest. Jen straighten up and smiled at her.

"Well, nurse Paige and I went on a walk, you see. But she had this painful cramp and had to use the ladies' room. So I told her I'd be fine alone. And as you can see, I'm fine," Jen answered smiling at herself for thinking up of such a good lie.

"Yea, whatever. Please, just go back into your room," she said pointing to Jen's room. Jen nodded obediently and walked into her room just as she caught a glance at a very angry nurse Paige storming over to them.

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Haley was sleepless with a million thoughts running through her mind. Nathan was fast asleep, his bare chest peaking out of the covers and his arms protectively over Haley's body. He was sleeping on his side with his head closely nestled on her shoulder. Haley unknowingly was drawing circles on his arm as she tried to focus and sleep, but it was no use. The previous event that happened earlier was haunting her. She didn't know what to do. Should she confront Nathan or let it go? Why didn't he tell her? What is going on between them? She turned on her side to look at Nathan. Even in the darkness she could still make out the features of his distinct face. He never looked more peaceful, she thought. He was so perfect in her eyes and so lovable. She sighed. She knew what she needed to do.

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Haley was dressed and ready and waiting impatiently for Nathan by the door. They were going to the hospital to check up on Deb before heading out for lunch with Jake and Peyton. Haley had gotten fond of Peyton. She was fun and very understanding, music-wise.

"Nate, honey, could you please hurry up?" Haley yelled through the room.

"Hey, look here," Nathan said appearing in the doorway from their room. He was holding up his cellphone. "It was here all this time."

"That's great, but we're going to be late," Haley said walking up to him. He smiled and lean down to kiss her. Haley stuck her hand on his lips and backed off.

"You can save that for later," she said as she kissed his cheek and walked past him. He groaned and tried to catch up to her.

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"You know, you've been attracting some attention lately," Peyton said sipping her tea. Haley looked at her confused. They are sitting in a burger joint talking while Jake and Nathan had excused themselves to use the restroom.

"What do you mean?" Haley asked. Peyton looked at the clueless girl. She was so naive.

"I mean about your music. I've had a number of producers wanting to talk to you," Peyton answered.

"What? Really? Are you sure?" Haley asked practically jumping out of her chair. Peyton laughed at the sight of her, which made her realize where she was and calmed down a bit. Haley cleared her throat before starting again.

"Are you serious, Pey?" she asked hopeful.

Peyton nodded. "I told them that they'd have to talk to you directly because I'm not your manager or agent. Plus I didn't know if you were interested or not."

Haley couldn't believe it. She hadn't given much thought about her future with music. Lately, she was just focused on Nathan and trying to remember her past. Her thoughts were interrupted however when Peyton's stomach grumble and erupted the silence between them. Peyton chuckled, slightly embarrassed and slightly annoyed that her food hasn't arrived yet. She excused herself to check on her order at the front counter. Peyton walked up to the front to find Nathan waiting for his order as well.

"Hey Peyton," Nathan said. Peyton replied and stood by him. They waited silently for their orders. It was a busy place and it took a while for their orders to be made. Finally as their orders were being called out, Nathan took out his hand from his pocket and dropped his cell phone on the ground. He bent over to pick it up and walked with Peyton to pick up their trays. Peyton looked at him as she carried one of the trays and remembered what had happened the night before.

"I see you got your cell phone back," Peyton said carrying one of the tray and nodding at Nathan. "I'm surprised you and Haley are still on good terms."

Nathan stopped to look at her. "What do you mean?"

"Well, if a girl just happened to drop off Jake's cell phone saying that he left it when he went to visit her...well, let's just say he's a goner," Peyton explained and chuckled lightly.

"Wait, how did you?" he asked surprised that she knew.

"Oh, I was there when that girl Jen dropped off your phone. Let me just say that Haley wasn't exactly thanking her. But it seems that you guys are fine now. How do you guys do it?" Peyton said and left Nathan standing there absorbing the new revelation. He watched as Peyton reached their table and sat beside Haley. Haley was laughing along with Peyton and seemed as if nothing had happened. He felt a light pain in his chest along with the guilt that had developed inside of him. So she had known, but she didn't say anything. How come? She had every right to be mad and angry and yell at him, yet she didn't. She chose to keep it to herself and that had hurt him even more. He slowly walked over to them. He placed the tray down and looked at Haley who winked playfully at him. He could barely smile at her knowing that he didn't deserve someone like her. Jake soon joined the trio and together they ate but Nathan was mostly quiet throughout the whole time. He couldn't shake off the guilt that had formed inside of him and couldn't stop thinking about Haley and what she must be going through. He watched her carefully for traces of hurt or anguish but he found none. It would have made him feel better if she did show signs of hurt, because at least she was letting it out and not bottling it inside of her. Just knowing that she was hurting inside because of him made the pain in his chest more heavy and known. Somehow, he made it through lunch without having the others notice anything about him. They were on their way to go sightseeing when Nathan pulled Jake aside and explained to him that he wanted some alone time with Haley. Jake joked about them having the rest of their lives to spend time together, but saw the serious look in Nathan's face and persuaded Peyton that he'd be better company for shoe shopping. He gave Nathan an "you-owe-me-one" look and they disappear around the corner.

Haley laughed at the sight of them and then turned her gaze upon her boyfriend, who she noticed was quite abnormal today. But she was glad to have the free time to spend it with him. They haven't had much time to spend quality time together and she figured this way, maybe he would open up to her more. She wrapped her arms around his sleek waist and grinned.

"Well, Mr. Scott, what do you suppose we do with the time that we're given?"she asked trying to be serious but smiling. He looked into her honey brown eyes and smiled at her.

"Let's go back to the hotel," he answered. Haley looked at him a little surprised. She had thought that maybe he'd want to spend the day out, not locked inside on this beautiful day, but agreed.

Once they made their way into their room, before Haley could even finish taking off her sweater, Nathan's strong arms made their way around her. Haley was once more surprised at his action.

"Nathan, sweetie, what's wrong? You've been acting weird today. What's going on?" she asked worried. He let go of her and allowed her to take off her sweater before pulling her hands into his. She looked up at him. She had never seen him like this before. It was scary, seeing him, so strong, so manly, being so sad and scared himself. She opened her mouth to say something when he pulled her into another tight embrace.

"Nate–"

"You knew," he said cutting her off. "You knew about me going to see Jen. Why didn't you say anything?" he asked with her still tight against his body, afraid that she'll push him away.

She stood there stunned. She didn't know what to say. She had wanted to avoid this subject and just move on. It hurt to think that he was worried about some other woman who wasn't her or his mother. She tried to rid herself of those mental images that had been plaguing through her mind, images of Nathan comforting Jen. It hurt to see him with her. But she trusted him.

Nathan looked down at her, worried when she didn't answer him. Her eyes weren't focused on him, they were distant and dull.

"Haley, you have every right to be angry at me. I lied to you. You should be yelling at me, please say something, anything," he pleaded her. "Whatever you throw my way, I deserve it."

"Nathan," she said searching for an ounce of strength to keep her composure.

"I'm sorry, Hales," he said softly and looked down at the ground.

Haley looked up at him. She gently placed her hand on his face and brought it up to meet her own eyes.

"Nathan–"

"Why didn't you tell me you knew, Hales? It hurt me even more to know that you knew, but you didn't say anything. How could you let it go, just like that? I mean–"

"Nathan," she said interrupting him sternly and sighed. She was becoming annoyed that he hadn't even let her talk. "Nate, it's fine, okay?"

"But it's not," he told her.

"I trust you," she answered simply. "I trust you, okay? Even if you were with Angelina Jolie, I trust that you'll be thinking about me, that I'm the only woman for you. I trust you with my life."

He looked down into her beautiful eyes. He could see little tear drops falling out of them into her cheeks. He was speechless. He didn't mean to make her suffer, he didn't want to make her cry. All he wanted to do was make her happy and forget all about pain, but it was him who brought on the pain. He leaned down and kissed the tears that fell upon her face. She closed her eyes and felt a sudden rush of calmness and peacefulness, as if everything is going to be alright again. He kissed the other side of her cheek softly as his hand were still wrapped around her waist. He returned his gaze to her as she opened her eyes watching him.

"You are the most amazing person in the world, you know that?" he said and kissed her on the lips. He could feel the forming of her smile as he kissed her and knew that everything's going to be alright now. She placed her hands around his neck and pulled him down to meet her advantage as she allowed his tongue entrance of her mouth. He pushed her against the wall and picked her off the floor until she was safely secured around his waist. Her legs wrap themselves around his waist and adjusted to the bulge that was forming inside of him. She could feel him growing underneath her and she needed him, right there right now. Their kisses were rough now, as they tried to quickly rid each other of their clothing. Nathan kept Haley around him as he lifted off her shirt leaving her in her bra. Her breath was heavy and unsettling, knowing that his eyes were on her. She quickly got rid of his shirt as well. Nathan continued to kiss Haley as he push at her making her moan, feeling him near her. His fingers made their way around her and unhooked her bra leaving her breasts dangle out from the fabric. He gently nibbled on them making her moan even more. She arched back as she felt a flood of emotions rush through her. He managed to lower her pants enough for him to enter her. In one swift strong motion, he was inside of her, making her whimper into his mouth. Slowly he thrusts back and forth until they both went over the edge.

Nathan was supporting himself on one arm, laying on the ground as the other stroked Haley's hair. He couldn't believe how lucky he was to have her. It was a perfect moment. After hours of making love, they finally collapsed on the floor covering themselves with a blanket. Haley stirred at the his touch and opened her eyes. She smiled at him.

"Good morning," she said sheepishly and kissed him softly on the lips.

"Morning," he replied after she pulled away.

"Hmm... what a comfortable bed we have here," she joked looking around. He chuckled.

"I could do this everyday," he said placing his arm around her and stroking her skin.

"Well, you just might have to," she answered smiling at him.

"No, I mean it, Haley, I want it to be like this always," he said suddenly with a serious tone.

"Nathan," Haley said softly. "I want it to be like this too."

"Haley, marry me," Nathan said gazing into her eyes. He could never get tire of those glistening bright brown eyes of hers. He gets captivated every time he sees them. Haley was speechless. It was just like him to throw these curve balls at her. But each time, it brought her a new sense of happiness and security, knowing that they're together. She smiled. She didn't need to think about it. Her heart already knew the answer.

"I would love to marry you, Nathan," she replied happily.

Nathan couldn't believe it. He kissed Haley and hugged her never wanting to let go of her.

"Do you know how lucky I am?" he said to her.

"Oh, I have an idea," she replied and smiled at him. She was lucky too.

"Hales?" he asked.

"Huh?" she replied snuggling against him.

"Let's get married tomorrow," he said.


	20. Forgotten Happiness

Haley struggled with her dress. It was a simple casual white dress that Peyton and Haley had picked out after Nathan had told her he wanted to marry her. The dress ran down to her knees with shiny beads glistening at the hem. She looked at herself in the mirror. It was short notice, but she was in love. She had waited long enough to be with Nathan and this time, it'll be officially. She sighed nervously. She was to meet Nathan at the courthouse and there, they'll be pronounced husband and wife. It was going to small, with Jake and Peyton as their witnesses. They talked about it and decided that they'll have a bigger wedding when Nathan returns from basketball. But for now, this'll do.

"You look gorgeous, Haley," Peyton said walking up from behind her. "I can't believe you guys are going to get married today."

"I can't believe it either, Peyton. I don't think a person can be as happy as I am right now," Haley said and patted her stomach. She was getting butterflies. She touched her dress and turned around to face Peyton.

"Nathan is going to have a tough time keeping his hands off of you," Peyton joked. Haley laughed.

"What time is it?" she asked.

"Don't worry, we still got time. It's only ten," Peyton explained. "So, you ready?"

"I'm more than ready," she replied

Nathan stood in the mirror and struggled with his tie. He had to rent his suit since he didn't pack one with him and it would be no use to buy one since he's got plenty at home.

"Need some help?" Jake asked appearing in the entrance. Nathan turned to him.

"Sure," he replied. Jake walked up to him and started to make loops to form the shape of his tie.

"You know, someday, you're going to have to learn to tie a tie," Jake said.

"I know, but I've got Haley," he beamed, excited that he'll finally be able to call her his wife.

"What a pervert, save those thoughts for the honeymoon, dude," Jake joked seeing that Nathan was deep in thought. Nathan chuckled.

"Thanks for being here for me," Nathan said.

"No problem," Jake said. "There, all done." He stepped back to let Nathan observe himself in the mirror.

"Thanks. Oh, I'm going to head out to the hospital to see my mom first. You can go ahead to the courthouse without me. I"ll be there shortly," Nathan said and looked at his watch to make sure he had time.

"You sure? I can come with you if you want," Jake insisted. Nathan shook his head.

"No, I'm fine thanks. I'm just going to tell my mom about this. I'm sure she'll be happy for us. I won't take long, promise," Nathan said. Jake nodded.

"Alright, I'm heading there right now. Hurry up, okay?" Jake said hugged his friend before leaving.

Nathan made his way to the hospital, speed walking since the traffic held him up. But he wanted to talk to his mother first thing. He wanted her to be happy for him and wanted her to give them her blessing. He walked into her room and discovered it empty. He ran to the nurse's station and leaned over the counter.

"Where's my mom?" he asked.

"She said she wanted to take a walk, so she's out with one of the volunteer," the nurse answered.

Nathan sighed. "How long has she been gone?"

"For a while now," the nurse stated. "I'm sure they'll be back soon." Nathan turned around. He couldn't wait around. He had to go and meet Haley and the rest at the courthouse by one. He sighed. He'll just have to go without talking to his mother. On his way out, he unnoticeably past Jen who was released and signing some final papers. She turned to see Nathan walking towards the door. She ran up to him and grabbed his hand. He turned around to find her smiling at him.

"Nathan, what are you doing here?" she asked. "Are you here to see your mother?"

Nathan nodded. "Yea, I was. You're still here?"

"Actually, I was released just a moment ago. I want to apologize for the other day," Jen said. "I was upset and seeing you again just made me confused. I didn't mean to take it on you."

"Don't worry about it," Nathan said and turned around to leave only to be held back by Jen.

"Listen, if you have time, why don't we go out for a drink?" she asked.

"Jen, I'm kinda in a rush," he told her briefly. "Sorry."

"Oh, why? What are you up to?" she asked curious.

"Jen, I don't–"

"Haley? You have to go to Haley?"she asked guessing.

Nathan nodded silently. "I'm getting married today." Jen's face fell apart. It felt as if her world crumbled in one instance. It couldn't be. She couldn't possibly heard him right.

"What?" she choked out.

"I'm getting married, Jen," he said softly. Jen nodded as though she understood, but she didn't. He can't get married, she thought. She still loved him. Nathan gently pulled his arm out of her grasp and walked away slowly. He exited the hospital and waited for a clear sign to cross to the parking lot. Jen watched Nathan's back, waiting for him to do something. She wanted him to run back to her and tell her that he wants her instead of Haley. But after a couple of seconds, he made no motion to do such sort of thing. So she decided she'll have to. Nathan made his way across and continued to walk to his car when he heard someone yelled his name. He turned around to find Jen running his way. He looked confused at what she was doing. Suddenly he heard a car honk and everything else went in slow motion. Jen was smiling one minute, the next she was laying on the street covered in blood. Nathan ran over to the crowd that had formed around her. He made his way through and found her laying there motionless. He quickly picked her up and carried her inside and demanded some help. Jen was quickly placed in a bed and rolled off. Nathan stood there, his suit now covered in blood as well as his hand and neck. He was panting, not remembering about his own wedding that he has going to attend.


	21. The choices we make

Sorry I put you guys in suspense for so long. My computer was broken (stupid Trojan viruses!) and I couldn't get access to my old documents that were saved…I know, excuses, excuses…But in any case, I'm here and back again. So enjoy!

* * *

Nathan waited anxiously to hear if Jen was going to make it or not. He was still in shock. He couldn't believe that one minute Jen was smiling and talking to him and the next, lying lifeless on the street. He didn't know what to think of all this. He wished someone could hurry up and tell him what's going on, but they've all been running back and forth for about an hour now. He sighed and looked down on the floors with his hands upon his thighs. He saw the red stains that were caused by her blood. His pant and shirt had stains on them too. Great and it's a rental, he thought to himself. Suddenly his head bolted upward and he remembered where he was supposed to be.

* * *

"I cannot believe that you left him. See what happened? If you had just stuck to the plan, this wouldn't have happened!" Peyton whispered furiously at Jake. She turned to look at Haley who was sitting at a nearby bench to make sure she didn't hear her. She returned her attention to her trembling husband and glared at him. "I didn't know it was going to be like this. I mean, he was so happy about getting married and he said he was just going to see his mom. I didn't think he'd forget about his wedding," he whispered back.  
Peyton sighed. "It's been over an hour now. Did you call the hospital"  
Jake nodded. "They said he was there but left shortly"  
"Do you think he ran away? Maybe he had cold feet or something? " Peyton asked unsure whether she was asking the right thing or not.  
"Don't be silly. Have you seen them together? I've known Nathan since we were on the team together and the only girl he ever talks about is Haley," Jake answers and turned to where Haley was sitting.  
Peyton turned to watch Haley once more. "I don't know how much longer she can keep it up." Haley stared out the glass window waiting, watching, and hoping that Nathan will run right in and sweep her off the floor and apologize for being so late. She couldn't take anymore of this especially with Peyton and Jake arguing behind her back. She never felt so embarrassed and humiliated before and yet so scared. Where could Nathan be? Is he okay? Is he hurt? What could be so important that made him forget about his own wedding? Thinking of all the possibilities, many of which made her worry even more, created tears in her eyes. She closed them to try to prevent them from coming out. A noise erupted her silence as she opened her eyes and turned to see Jake and Peyton. Jake pulled out his cellphone and looked at the screen. "It's Nathan," he said loudly to Haley. Haley quickly walked over to them as he answered.  
"Nathan, where are you, man? Do you know what time it is? Are you alright?" Jake asked a little excited. "Jake, sorry to scare you guys. I'm fine. I'm at the hospital," Nathan said over the phone.  
"At the hospital?" Jake blurted out. Haley looked at him with her eyes bulging out in shock.  
"Yea, no, I'm fine, Jake. Can I please talk to Haley?" Nathan asked. Jake obeyed and handed the phone to Haley. Haley quickly took it and placed it over her ear. "Nathan?" she asked a little afraid to find out why he was at the hospital.  
"Hales, baby, I'm so sorry," he pleaded softly. Haley let out a breath that she didn't know she was holding in. It was good to hear his voice again. She didn't even notice the tears coming down her face from happiness. "It's alright, Nathan. Are you okay? Why are you at the hospital?" she asked anxiously over the phone.  
"Haley, I'm fine. Nothing's wrong with me," Nathan answered and sighed. "Then why are you at the hospital?" Haley asked. "Is your mother okay?" she asked worry-stricken. "No, Hales, everyone's fine," he answered.  
"Nate, what's going on? Tell me, why are you at the hospital?" Haley asked curious.  
"Haley, it's Jen," Nathan blurted out. Haley froze. She didn't expect to hear that name. She didn't expect this kind of thing with Nathan. In this one instant, her heart crumbled into a thousand pieces. She was crushed. She almost lost her hold on the phone.  
"Haley? Haley, please don't get mad. I know"  
"Nathan, come here. Right now," she told him. There was silence. She couldn't make out why he didn't answer her right away. Was he choosing Jen over her?  
"Nathan"  
Nathan sighed. "Hales, I can't." Haley didn't know it was possible to have your heart crush twice in one day.  
"Nathan…" Haley said over the phone, on the verge of tears. "Sweetie, it's not what you think. Jen's been in a really bad accident, and right now she has no one. I need to find out if she's gonna make it or not. She was in this accident partly because of me, and I feel guilty over that," Nathan explained. "Why don't we postpone this for another day, huh? Can you come over here?" he asked pleading with her. Haley couldn't understand why she felt so angry and so sad. It was the happiest day of her life and it turned into a nightmare. She could feel her face turn warm and red with her emotions bottled up inside. She was about to explode. Why couldn't Nathan understand and see what this is doing to her?  
"Hales? Can you? Can you come over here?" he pleaded once more.  
Haley closed her eyes to focus and try to remain calm. She could feel the growing lump in her throat and was afraid that if she spoke, she'd lose herself. "Hales?" Nathan asked. "I can't Nathan. As hard as it is for me, Nathan, I don't think I can do this anymore," she said softly but trembling. "Haley, what do you mean?" Nathan asked over the phone. "You can't say that"  
"You've made your choice, Nathan. And I've made mine. I'm sorry," she said and flipped the phone shut. Her whole body was trembling. Peyton grabbed her and held her as she cried on her shoulders. "It's okay, sweetie. Let's go home," Peyton suggested. Haley shook her head against Peyton's shoulders and looked up at them. She wiped her tears and cleared her throat.  
"Why don't you guys go on home? You must be tired. Thanks for being here. I really appreciate it," Haley said weakly. "But Haley, you can't be alone like this…" Peyton said.  
"It's alright. I'm just going to go back to the hotel," she told them.  
"Haley," Jake said trying to persuade her. Haley could feel the tears building up again and felt embarrassed. "Please, just go!" she cried and ran outside. She closed her eyes causing the tears to crash down her cheeks. She let out a whimper as she ran. It hurts so much. How could Nathan, the love of her life do this to her? She just wanted to escape; escape the pain, escape the reality and escape from this world. She started to run down the steps when she felt a bump on the ground and before she knew it, she was laying on her back on the cement as the world was dark to her. Maybe she succeeded in escaping. She tried to open her eyes, but the headaches that were crushing through her made it impossible. Suddenly she saw a white light, and like a TV before her, she saw her life:

"Home sweet home," she says to herself softly. She saw her home in Tree Hill and remembered what it felt like to be back again.

_-_

_"Gosh, Luke, you look so different. It hasn't been that long now, has it?" Haley asks once they broken apart. Lucas smiles.  
"Yes it has, Hales," he answers. "It's been almost three years now." The look on Lucas's face was so refreshing and so warm. It comforted her.  
-  
"That's right. And Jen is Nathan's fiancee. They're in town for their engagement party." She tried to hide her disappointment and jealousy because, quite frankly, she was still in love with Nathan.  
-  
"…The tumor has grown…" Those four words were able to make her world come crushing down and leaving no mercy for anything.  
-  
"And if I don't survive the surgery?" Haley asks.  
Nathan remains silent.  
"What if I lose my memory, Nathan? Can you love a person who doesn't even remember you? Can you live with that?" She never expected this. She never would have wanted to put Nathan through all this pain, if she could, she would take it all away.  
-  
"Nathan, I have to go now," she says. Nathan lifts his head. He kisses her once more and says, "I love you"  
This feeling of uncertainty was hovering over her like dark clouds covering the sun. She hated it and wished more than anything to create some light. She wants to come back, back into Nathan's arms, into his life, and into his heart once more.  
_

She opened her eyes to find Peyton and Jake panicking. They were yelling, but Haley couldn't make out what they were saying, all she knew was, she was back. She struggled to get up but her body ached all over. Peyton helped her sit up. Haley looked at the scratches and bruises from her body. She was scratched badly on her right side; legs, arms and around her face. Her previous white dress had drops of blood on them as well as dirt. "Oh, my god, Haley. Are you alright? Did you break anything?" Peyton asked worried at the sight of her. Her scratches looked serious and deep, with blood still trickling down the side of her face. "Maybe we should get her to the hospital," Jake suggested talking to Peyton. Peyton nodded and reached to help her stand. Haley winced as she stood on her feet. The headache was still noticeable and throbbing. Haley backed away from them touching her head. "I'm fine," she said softly. "I don't need to go to the hospital. Thanks." She slowly turned around leaving Peyton and Jake behind unsatisfied with her answer, and walked away. She had enough of the hospital for one day.


	22. So this is Goodbye

Wow, so this is it.. Finally, these are the last chapters, I hope you guys enjoyed it. I really like the way this story turned out. I hope you guys will follow up with my future stories. Thanks for much for all the great reviews. I really had blast writing this story. Enjoy!

Nathan unlocked the door and quickly switched on the light, searching for Haley. Their suite was tidied and empty. Panic rose inside of him when Haley was nowhere to be see. He ran to their bedroom and opened the door to find Haley staring out the window. He sighed, relieved to find Haley still there.

"Hales," he said softly. "Peyton just called me. She told me everything. Are you alright?" Haley turned slowly to face him. She had changed out of her dress into a pair of loose jean and t-shirt, the ones she had on when she first came to New York. Her scratches and bruises were evident through the darkness of their room. Nathan gasps and took one more step closer to her.

"Hales, are you alright?" he asked crouching over the nightstand to turn on the light. Haley nodded silently. Truth was, it hurts like hell. She stared at him. Her beautiful Nathan. He looked so worn out, his shirt was wrinkled with hints of blood that was washed out, he had dark patches under his eyes and his hair was ruffled. But other than that, he was still the same Nathan that she'd left behind. It was strange to feel like she missed him. But that's how she felt like. Like she'd just woken up from a long sleep and the one person she really wanted to see was Nathan. Tears strolled down her cheeks when she thought of what Nathan must have been through when she wasn't able to recognize him. What kind of pain and suffering he must of have endured because of her. Sadly, at the same time, she was going to create even more pain than before. She knew that what she's going to tell him is going to rip his heart out. But she has no other choices left.

"Hales, what's going on?" Nathan asked motioning to the small carry on bag placed on top of their bed.

Haley walked over to it and without looking at Nathan, she spoke. "I'm going home, Nathan."

His head shot up while his heart sunk down deep into his chest. Had he heard her right?

"I'm sorry," she whispered and looked at him, teary-eyed.

"Why are you leaving? I thought…I thought you love me," he said quietly, clearly hurt by her plans.

"I do. I always will. But I can't do this anymore." Haley said trying to keep her composure.

"Is this about today?" Nathan asked.

Haley closed her eyes, not even wanting to think about what had happened.

"I'm not going to lie. What you did today, hurt me a lot. I got stood up on my wedding day because you were out playing hero to your ex fiancé," Haley said sounding harsh when she didn't intend to.

"I told you what happened. I didn't go there to see her. I went to see my mother. She happens to be there and got into a car accident," Nathan told her.

"I know. But it still hurts when you chose to stay there and didn't call two hours later. Do you know how humiliated I was? Peyton and Jake were starting to believe that you had cold feet and left me behind," Haley hissed, her anger apparent.

"Hales, I had no choice. She needed me," Nathan shot back.

"I NEEDED you," she shouted over him. She stopped to collect herself but failed as tears ran down uncontrollably down her face. She laughed through it.

"It was the happiest day of my life. I couldn't wait to be married to you. I wanted you to see me and to want me as your wife. Then you never showed up. A thousand horrible "what if's" popped into my head and plagued my mind for hours. I was so worried. Then my fear turned to doubt, "what if he doesn't want to marry me?" Nathan, how could you do this to me?" Her voice cracked. She couldn't hold it in any longer.

"Hales," Nathan said speechless. He really didn't know that Haley had felt that way. He never meant to hurt her. He was overjoyed to know that he was going to marry Haley too, but then Jen happened. All his happiness washed away with concern for Jen's safety. A little part of him knew that the reason Jen was in the accident was because of him. He stayed because of the guilt that kept eating up at him.

Haley wiped at her tears. "Then you know what I started to realize?" she said.

"You still care for her, Nathan."

Nathan looked at her. How could she say that? After everything that they've been through?

"She was the one," Haley said softly and gulped down the lump that was clogged in her throat, "she was the one who was there for you when I wasn't. When I moved away, she was the one who helped you to move on. You must feel some kind of love towards her. It was wrong of me, to accept you and take you away from her."

"Haley, you got it all wrong!" Nathan said panicking. How could she think like this? "I love you. How could you doubt me, after everything that we've been through? It's you, that I want to marry, that I want to spend the rest of my life with, that I want to have by my side. It's always been you."

Haley shook her head. "Don't say that," she whispered. "If anything, I'm the reason you've been suffering all these years. I'm to blame for causing so much problems." She looked at Nathan. It's true, she was to blame, for making him so unhappy, for making him wait, for making him suffer, because of her. It's time, she thought. Time for her to leave for good, so that Nathan could finally move on. So that he'll be happy once and for all. She couldn't bear to know that she's the reason that was stopping him from his chance of happiness. She shook her tears away.

"I have to leave," she said quietly and picked up her bag from the bed.

"Wait," Nathan said grabbing her wrist. Haley stopped in her tracks.

"So this is it? There's nothing more I can do or say to stop you. I can't convince you that you're the reason I'm living. That because of you, I'm always looking forward to the day because I know that you're here, with me?" He wasn't looking at her. Instead, he was looking down at the floor so that Haley couldn't see him crying.

"Nate, you should have listened to me when I told you to move on if I didn't make it. It would have saved you a lot of heartache," Haley whispered sadly. Nathan's head shot up. Did she remember? How did she know about that? What's going on?

"It's time for you to move on. Without me. I think I've cause enough damage to you. You don't need a train wreck like me, Nate. You deserve more," she said tearfully and started to walk away.

"Hales, wait," he cried aloud running up to her. He grabbed her arm and looked at her. "Wait, I need you. I love you. Why can't you see that? We can work this out," he pleaded. Haley looked away. It was harder that she thought, leaving him. She loved him so much. But she needed some time alone. And he needed to sort out his feelings.

"Please don't make it any harder than it has to be, Nathan," she pleaded, her voice cracking. "It's for the best."

Nathan shook his head. "I love you Hales." Haley opened her mouth to object but before a word came out, Nathan's lips crashed into hers and silently pleaded her to rethink her options. Haley couldn't find any ounce of strength to protest. His lips were like sweet honey that were so addictive it blew her mind away. His tongue drove itself down her throat claiming hers along. Their tears mixed in together as their faces touched. She struggled to find anything in her and finally had the strength to push Nathan off. She could see the pain of rejection in his eyes but before he could do anything, she was off, running out of the suite. In the back of her mind, she knew she was doing the wrong thing. She was always running away when things get tough. But she had to. She didn't want to be the reason Nathan is unhappy. She didn't want to stand in the way of Nathan and Jen. She didn't want to be hurt again. She didn't want to cause Nathan anymore pain. She hurried out of the building and ran into a cab. Before she knew it, she was at the airport walking towards her gate. She felt wet droplets on her cheeks as she walked, trying to erase everything from her mind. So this is good bye.

Nathan watched her as she walked away from him, oblivious to his presence. Her beautiful rich golden waves were swiftly prancing around her shoulders, making him weak in the stomach. He was totally mesmerized by her, yet, he couldn't move, couldn't speak. He wanted nothing more than to yell her name and to stop her, to hold her, touch her, and tell her she was his everything. "Hales," he said under his breath. He continued to watch as she disappeared through the terminal. So this is good bye.


	23. You're Welcome

Five months later….

Nathan stared at the screen of his cell phone. He made a face.

"Luke?" he answered.

"Nathan, man, glad I finally got through to you," Lucas said through the other line.

"Why? We just finished up the season, and you just left here about a week ago," Nathan said confused.

"Wow, I can feel the brotherly love, alright," Lucas said sarcastically.

Nathan chuckled lightly. "Sorry, what's up?"

Lucas paused for a moment. "It's Haley," he finally blurted out.

Nathan was stunned. He wasn't expecting to hear that name. Lucas and Nathan have had a silent agreement to never talk about what had happened in New York and between Haley and him. Through out the whole season, they've avoided the subject and Lucas was kind enough to not bring up Haley or even say her name. It has been a very long time since he heard it. It still sounded beautiful.

"Nathan, I'm sorry, I don't mean to pry open any wounds, but, she's not doing so well. I'm really worried about her. I think you need to come down here…"

-----------------------

Haley sighed as she straightened up. She put the dishes in the sink and placed her hands on her hips. Her back was really starting to bother her.

"Aunt Haley!" Jaime cried as he ran through the kitchen. Haley smiled widely and bent over to pick him up.

"Jaime! You woke up! That was a quick nap," Haley said caressing his cheeks. He had grown quite a bit, but he still loves to be held.

"Where's daddy?" he asked innocently.

"Oh, he went to go pick up lunch from grandma's house. He'll be back soon. Why don't we play a game until he gets here. You like that?" Haley asked to the boy.

He nodded anxiously. Haley smiled, but it soon turned into a frown when she felt a pair of strong arms snatch the little boy from her grasp.

"Lucas!" Haley cried, frustrated.

"Haley!" Lucas cried back, mocking her. He smiled. "Hales, you know what the doctor said. It's not healthy for you to be picking up Jaime. And you -he turned to Jaime- You're a big boy now, you don't need to be held. You know that Aunt Haley isn't well." Jaime looked down, sad.

"Oh, Luke, that's so unfair," Haley protested. "It's not his fault. You shouldn't scold him for it."

"But it's true. He's a big boy now, aren't you?" Lucas questions the boy.

Jaime nodded slowly.

"Good. Now, since I have you, TICKLE TIME!" Lucas exclaimed and tried to tickle the boy with his one free arm. The boy screeched with laughter, trying to stop his father. Haley watched with amusement.

"The Scott gene, one can never truly understand," she said to herself. Lucas stops and looks at Haley trying to be offended.

"Excuse me? Do you want in on TICKLE TIME?" Lucas makes his way towards Haley and starts tickling her, with Jaime in his arms. Haley laughs uncontrollably trying everything to stop him.

"Uncle Nathan!" Jaime yells and jumps out of Lucas's arm. Lucas and Haley stops to watch as Nathan enters the kitchen.

"Hey there, squirt," Nathan said and bent over so that he was at eye level with Jaime. As he did, his gaze landed on Haley's figure. Haley turned around fully to see his face. Nathan froze as he saw her. The sun was shining in through the window causing her skin to glow and her hair was radiating off the light. But most of all, the bump on her stomach caused him to stare. He could feel his heart beating rapidly. It couldn't be, could it? Was he imagining it? Was Haley pregnant?

"Nathan," Haley said whispering, unable to grasp the idea that he was actually there.

"Nathan, you came," Lucas said and walked towards him. Haley shot a look at Lucas.

"You called him?" Haley asked, anger rising in her voice.

"Hales, I had to, the doctor said…" before Lucas could finish explaining, Haley dashed out the door and was speed walking outside on the lawn. Nathan made a move for it, but Lucas stopped him.

"Let me," he said and ran after Haley. Lucas ran out the door and caught up to Haley, who didn't even bother to turn around.

"Haley, listen to me," Lucas pleaded.

"How could you? How could you call him? I asked you not to and you promised you wouldn't!" she yelled still walking away.

"Hales, stop," Lucas said grabbing her wrist. She turned around angrily and avoided looking into his eyes. Tears start to form in her eyes, probably the hormones, she thought.

"Lucas, I'm not ready," Haley said tearfully.

"Hales, you need to do this," Lucas said looking into her eyes. "You love him. You need to put yourself and my brother out of this misery."

Haley wiped her tears away and placed her hands on her hips. "How do you even know it's Nathan's? I never confirmed that it was his."

Lucas chuckled. "Come on, Hales. We all know whose it is. Who else could it be? Stop kidding yourself."

"It's MY baby," Haley told him softly.

Lucas smiled.

"It takes two, Hales," Lucas said.

Haley knew he was right. It was Nathan's. But it just hurts so much to see him again and to know that he never came for her, that he never bothered to ask for her, to see how she was doing, maybe he did go after Jen. She started to feel a sharp pain in her chest at the last thought. She looked over Lucas's shoulder to find Nathan making his way over with Jaime in his arms. Lucas looked back too and then turned to focus on Haley.

"You guys have been through a lot. Don't you think it's time to start over? You love him, he loves you, why make it so complicated?" Lucas asks.

"You don't know that," Haley whispers.

"Know what?" Lucas asked.

"He might have someone else now," Haley said avoiding the sharp pain in her chest.

Lucas chuckles. "You're kidding, right? Nathan hasn't been with anyone since you came back. He's miserable without you, Hales. And I can see that you're the same without him. Give him a chance. For the little one's sake, and ours, if not for yours."

Nathan stopped a couple of feet away from them, unsure if he was should be there or not.

"Give him a chance," Lucas said softly and turned around to walk towards Nathan.

"Come here, buddy, what do you say we go and play some ball?" Lucas asked taking Jaime away from Nathan.

"YAY!" Jaime cheered.

"Go easy on her," Lucas said. "It's not good for her health or the baby's." He walked away with Jaime in his arms. Nathan could feel his heart skip a beat. His baby, his Haley. It hurt him to think they could not be doing well. He take a step closer to her. He was close enough to notice the bump under her white maternity blouse. Her hair was sprawled over her shoulders in waves and she looked deliciously gorgeous, especially with her skin glowing.

"You look beautiful, Hales," he said softly. Haley sniffled and tried to keep her tears from flowing. He looks so handsome with his faded jeans and navy blue polo shirt. God, how she'd missed him.

"Don't cry, Hales," he said. Before she knew it, tears were rolling down her cheeks and he was there to wipe them off for her. His touch was so warm, so familiar, so comforting. Haley threw her arms around him tightly.

Nathan was shocked by her sudden action. He didn't move.

"What took you so long to come back to me?" she whispered, closing her eyes, taking in his familiar scent. She missed him so much.

Nathan smiled and placed his arms around her waist. "I'm sorry," he said into her neck.

"I missed you so much," she said, tearfully.

"Me, too. I won't let you go ever again," he said and pulled back to look into her eyes.

"Don't leave me again, Hales, These past months have been like hell. I don't want to live without you in my life." he said brushing a strand of her hair behind her ears.

"I don't know if I can walk away from you anymore. It's too hard, I love you so much," she said.

"I love you too."

He leaned in close to her and closed his eyes as she did also. His lips brushed against hers, then sucking onto them gently, with his arms still around her. They broke apart staring at each other.

"I miss this," Nathan admitted. Haley nodded in agreement, then winced. Nathan looked at her panicked.

"What is it? What's wrong?" he asked.

Haley smiled and took Nathan's hand in hers and placed it over her stomach so that he could feel the baby kick. Nathan's smile lighten up when he felt the soft brush against her stomach.

"He's just happy to finally meet his dad," she explained watching him. Nathan's eyebrows raised.

"He?"

Haley nodded happily. "We're having a boy, Nathan. You're going to have a son."

Nathan held onto Haley tightly, not ever wanting to let go.

"I love you, you know that?" he asked.

Haley nodded. "I know." She smiled.

---------------

Haley sat on the couch with one of Nathan's arm around her shoulder while the other was placed on her tummy caressing the bump. Her head nestled perfectly against Nathan's neck. It had been a week since Nathan came back to Tree Hill. They'd finally settled unanswered questions, Haley came clean and told him that she'd remembered, and Nathan telling her that he was sorry about their wedding day also figuring out where to go on from there. They decided to reside in Tree Hill and Nathan would travel back and forth during games. Of course, Haley would accompany him whenever possible after the baby is born. They were willing to go through any lengths to be together. Nathan turned to Haley.

"There is something you never told me," he said.

Haley looked up. "What?"

"When you were about to go into surgery, you said that you had something to tell me, but only after the surgery. What was it you have to tell me?" Nathan questioned.

Haley blushed.

"Come on, no more secrets, what was it?" Nathan persisted.

"Alright," Haley said. She sat up and looked at Nathan.

"I wanted to tell you thanks for saving my life," Haley said, smiling. Nathan looked at her.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it's just.. remember when I collapsed at your engagement? Well, I sort of had this dream, or maybe I was actually dying, I don't know, but I could feel myself letting go, and I saw my mom. She told my to reach for the light. When I did, I saw you, and that's when I woke up and was still alive. And thanks to you, I went through with the surgery and survived. So, I know this sounds corny and all, but you are my light where there is darkness and you saved me. Thanks," she said kissing his cheeks. He was speechless. How did she know all the right words to say? He looked down at her and cupped her face with his free hand and kissed her.

"You're welcome," he said after a moment, breathlessly.

Well that is all. I hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I did...Thanks!


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